Declaraciones del Presidente Barack Obama – Versión Preparada Para Su Emisión
Discurso ante Sesión Conjunta del Congreso
Martes, 24 de febrero, 2009
Señora Presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes, Sr. Vicepresidente, miembros del Congreso:
Estoy aquí esta noche no sólo para dirigirme a las distinguidas damas y caballeros en este gran recinto, sino para hablar directa y francamente con los hombres y mujeres que nos trajeron aquí.
Sé que para muchos estadounidenses que nos observan en este momento, el estado de nuestra economía es una inquietud mayor que todas las demás. Y con toda razón. Si no han sido afectados personalmente por esta recesión, probablemente conocen a alguien que ha sido afectado: un amigo, un vecino, un miembro de su familia. No necesitan escuchar otra lista de datos para saber que nuestra economía se encuentra en crisis, porque la viven todos los días. Es la preocupación con la que se despiertan y motivo de desvelo de noche. Es el empleo que pensaron que tendrían hasta jubilarse, pero que ahora han perdido; el negocio con el que soñaron y que ahora pende de un hilo; la carta de aceptación a la universidad que su hijo tuvo que volver a guardar en el sobre. El impacto de esta recesión es real y está por todas partes.
Pero a pesar de que nuestra economía se haya debilitado y nuestra confianza se vea afectada; a pesar de que estamos viviendo en tiempos difíciles e inciertos, esta noche quiero que todo estadounidense sepa lo siguiente:
Reconstruiremos, nos recuperaremos, y Estados Unidos saldrá de esto más fuerte que nunca.
El peso de esta crisis no determinará el destino de esta nación. Las respuestas a nuestros problemas no están fuera de nuestro alcance. Están en nuestros laboratorios y universidades; en nuestros campos y nuestras fábricas; en la imaginación de nuestros empresarios y el orgullo del pueblo más trabajador en la faz de la Tierra. Aún poseemos a manos llenas las cualidades que han hecho de Estados Unidos la mayor fuerza de progreso y prosperidad en la historia de la humanidad. Lo que se requiere ahora es que este país se una, que encaremos audazmente los desafíos que enfrentamos y asumamos la responsabilidad por nuestro futuro una vez más.
Ahora, si somos francos con nosotros mismos, admitiremos que durante demasiado tiempo, no siempre hemos cumplido con estas responsabilidades, ya sea como gobierno o como pueblo. Digo esto no para designar culpables ni mirar hacia atrás, sino porque sólo al comprender cómo llegamos a este momento podremos salir de este aprieto.
El hecho es que nuestra economía no comenzó a deteriorarse de la noche a la mañana. Tampoco se iniciaron todos nuestros problemas cuando el mercado de vivienda colapsó o la bolsa de valores se desplomó. Sabemos desde hace décadas que nuestra supervivencia depende de encontrar nuevas fuentes de energía. Sin embargo, importamos más petróleo ahora que nunca antes. El costo del cuidado de salud devora más y más de nuestros ahorros todos los años, sin embargo continuamos retrasando reformas. Nuestros niños competirán por empleos en una economía mundial para la cual demasiadas de nuestras escuelas no los preparan. Y aunque todos estos desafíos continuaron sin solución, logramos gastar más dinero y acumular más deudas, tanto como personas y como gobierno, que nunca antes.
En otras palabras, hemos vivido una era en la que demasiado a menudo, las ganancias a corto plazo eran apreciadas más que la prosperidad a largo plazo; en la que no miramos más allá del próximo pago, el próximo trimestre o las próximas elecciones. Un superávit se convirtió en excusa para transferir riqueza a los acaudalados en vez de una oportunidad de invertir en nuestro futuro. Se desmanteló la reglamentación a favor de utilidades rápidas y a costa de un mercado saludable. Sabiendo que no estaban a su alcance, las personas compraron casas de bancos y prestamistas que, de cualquier manera, querían colocar esos malos préstamos. Y mientras tanto, se pospusieron debates cruciales y decisiones difíciles hasta otro momento, otro día.
Bueno, ha llegado el día del ajuste de cuentas, y éste es el momento de hacernos cargo de nuestro futuro.
Éste es el momento de actuar de forma audaz y sensata, no sólo para reactivar esta economía, sino para sentar nuevas bases para una prosperidad perdurable. Éste es el momento de impulsar la generación de empleo, reactivar los préstamos e invertir en sectores como el de energía, cuidado de salud y educación, que harán que nuestra economía crezca, incluso a la vez que tomamos las difíciles decisiones de reducir nuestro déficit. Ése es el propósito de mi plan económico, y de eso me gustaría hablarles esta noche.
Es un plan que comienza con el empleo.
Tan pronto asumí el cargo, le pedí a este Congreso que para el Día del Presidente, tuviera listo un plan que volviera a poner a la gente a trabajar y que le pusiera dinero en el bolsillo. No porque creo en aumentar la burocracia. No creo en eso. No porque no me importe la deuda masiva que hemos heredado. Sí me importa. Hice un llamado a la acción porque no hacerlo hubiera significado perder más empleos y hubiera causado más dificultades. De hecho, no actuar habría empeorado nuestro déficit a largo plazo al asegurar poco crecimiento económico durante años. Por eso fue que presioné para actuar rápidamente. Y esta noche, me siento agradecido porque este Congreso hizo su trabajo, y me complace decirles que la Ley para la Recuperación y Reinversión en Estados Unidos ya fue promulgada.
En los próximos dos años, este plan preservará o creará 3.5 millones de empleos. Más de 90% de estos puestos de trabajo estarán en el sector privado: empleos para reconstruir carreteras y puentes, para fabricar turbinas de viento y paneles solares, para tender banda ancha y expandir el sistema de transporte público.
Debido a este plan, hay maestros que ahora pueden conservar sus puestos y educar a nuestros hijos. Los profesionales de la salud pueden seguir cuidando de los enfermos. Esta noche, 57 oficiales de policía pueden seguir patrullando las calles de Mineápolis, porque su departamento estaba a punto de despedirlos, y este plan lo evitó.
Debido a este plan, 95% de las familias trabajadores en Estados Unidos recibirán un recorte tributario… un recorte tributario que verán en sus talones de pago desde el 1º de abril.
Debido a este plan, las familias que tienen dificultades para cubrir los costos de la educación superior recibirán un crédito tributario de $2,500 para los cuatro años de universidad. Y los estadounidenses que han perdido su empleo en esta recesión podrán recibir una extensión en los beneficios por desempleo y cobertura para cuidados de salud que los ayudará a resistir esta tormenta.
Sé que hay algunos en este recinto y otros que nos ven desde sus hogares que no creen que este plan funcione. Y entiendo ese escepticismo. Aquí en Washington, hemos visto lo rápido que las buenas intenciones se vuelven promesas incumplidas y despilfarro. Y un plan a esta escala implica enorme responsabilidad y la necesidad de hacerlo correctamente.
Por eso le pedí al Vicepresidente Biden que encabezara un esfuerzo de supervisión estricta sin precedente, porque a Joe no se le escapa una. Y les he dicho a todos y cada uno de los miembros de mi gabinete, así como a los alcaldes y gobernadores de todo el país, que a mí y al pueblo estadounidense nos tendrán que rendir cuentas por cada dólar que gasten. Y he designado a un Inspector General de comprobada capacidad y dinamismo para identificar todos los casos de despilfarro y fraude. Y hemos creado una nueva página web llamada recovery.gov para que todos los estadounidenses puedan saber cómo y dónde se gasta su dinero.
Por lo tanto, el plan de recuperación que aprobamos es el primer paso para lograr que nuestra economía vuelva a encaminarse. Pero es sólo el primer paso. Porque incluso si no cometemos ningún error al administrar este plan, no habrá una recuperación real a menos que solucionemos la crisis de crédito que ha debilitado seriamente a nuestro sistema financiero.
Y esta noche quiero hablarles simple y sinceramente sobre este tema, porque todo estadounidense debe saber que eso afecta directamente su bienestar y el de su familia. También quiero que sepan que el dinero que han depositado en los bancos de todo el país está a salvo, que su seguro no está en peligro y que pueden confiar en que nuestro sistema financiero continuará funcionando. Esto no debe ser causa de preocupación alguna.
Lo que nos inquieta es que si no reanudamos los préstamos en este país, nuestro plan de recuperación estará destinado a fallar sin siquiera haber empezado.
Vean, el flujo de crédito es lo que le da vida a nuestra economía. La capacidad de conseguir un préstamo determina la posibilidad de financiar todo, desde una casa hasta un auto y los estudios universitarios; es la manera en que las tiendas renuevan su inventario, las granjas compran equipo y las empresas pagan sus planillas.
Pero el crédito ya no fluye como debería. Demasiados préstamos impagos resultantes de la crisis hipotecaria han afectado los balances contables de demasiados bancos. Con tanta deuda y tan poca confianza, ahora estos bancos temen prestar más dinero a familias, empresas y a otros bancos. Cuando no hay préstamos, las familias no pueden comprar casas ni autos. Entonces las empresas se ven forzadas a hacer despidos. Luego nuestra economía sufre aun más, y hay menos crédito disponible.
Por eso, este gobierno está actuando rápida y enérgicamente para romper este ciclo destructivo, restaurar la confianza y reanudar los préstamos.
Lo haremos de varias maneras. En primer lugar, crearemos un nuevo fondo de préstamos que representa el mayor esfuerzo jamás creado a fin de ayudar a proporcionar financiamiento para vehículos, estudios universitarios, préstamos a pequeñas empresas para los consumidores y empresarios que hacen que esta economía funcione.
En segundo lugar, he propuesto un plan de vivienda que ayudará a las familias responsables pero en peligro de una ejecución hipotecaria a reducir sus pagos mensuales y refinanciar sus préstamos hipotecarios. Es un plan que no ayudará a especuladores ni a ese vecino en su misma cuadra que compró una casa totalmente fuera de su alcance, pero sí ayudará a millones de estadounidenses que están teniendo dificultades debido a la devaluación inmobiliaria… estadounidenses que ahora podrán aprovechar tasas de interés más bajas que este plan ya ha ayudado a establecer. De hecho, la familia promedio que refinancie hoy puede ahorrar casi $2000 al año en su hipoteca.
En tercer lugar, actuaremos con toda la fuerza del gobierno federal para asegurar que los principales bancos de los que dependen los estadounidenses tengan suficiente confianza y suficiente dinero para otorgar préstamos incluso en tiempos más difíciles. Y cuando nos enteremos de que uno de los principales bancos tiene serios problemas, les pediremos cuentas a los responsables, los obligaremos a hacer los ajustes necesarios, les proporcionaremos apoyo para sanear sus balances contables y aseguraremos la continuidad de una institución sólida y viable que pueda beneficiar a nuestra gente y a nuestra economía.
Comprendo bien que Wall Street preferiría un enfoque que les diera a los bancos dinero para rescatarlos sin imponerles condiciones, sin pedirle a nadie que rinda cuentas por sus irresponsables decisiones. Pero un enfoque así no resolvería el problema. Y nuestro objetivo es hacer que pronto llegue el día en que volvamos a otorgar préstamos al pueblo estadounidense y a las empresas estadounidenses, lo cual acabará con esta crisis de una vez por todas.
Tengo la intención de pedirles a estos bancos que rindan cuentas de toda la ayuda que reciban, y esta vez, deberán demostrar claramente cómo se usan los dólares de los contribuyentes a fin de generar más préstamos para el contribuyente estadounidense. Esta vez, los directores generales no podrán usar el dinero de los contribuyentes para engrosar sus talones de pago ni comprar costosas cortinas o desaparecer en un avión privado. Eso no volverá a suceder.
Sin embargo, este plan requerirá recursos significativos del gobierno federal, y sí, probablemente más de lo que ya hemos destinado para esto. Pero aunque el costo va a ser alto, les puedo asegurar que el costo de la inacción sería mucho mayor, porque podría tener como consecuencia una economía débil no sólo por meses o años, sino tal vez por una década. Eso sería peor que nuestro déficit, peor para las empresas, peor para el pueblo y peor para la siguiente generación. Y me resisto a permitir que eso pase.
Y comprendo que cuando el gobierno pasado le pidió ayuda al Congreso para que proporcionara ayuda a los bancos en dificultades, tanto los demócratas como los republicanos estaban furiosos por el mal manejo y lo que ocurrió a continuación. Los contribuyentes estadounidenses sintieron lo mismo. Y yo también.
Así que sé lo poco popular que es ayudar a los bancos en este momento, especialmente porque sus malas decisiones causaron, en parte, que todos los estadounidenses se vieran afectados. Les aseguro que lo entiendo.
Pero también sé que en épocas de crisis, no podemos darnos el lujo de gobernar con ira o hacer concesiones a la politiquería del momento. Mi trabajo, nuestro trabajo, es resolver el problema. Nuestro trabajo es gobernar con sentido de responsabilidad. No voy a gastar ni un centavo con el objetivo de recompensar a ejecutivos de Wall Street, pero haré todo lo que sea necesario para ayudar a la pequeña empresa que no puede pagar a sus trabajadores o a la familia que ha ahorrado, pero que todavía no puede conseguir un préstamo hipotecario.
De eso se trata. No se trata de ayudar a los bancos; se trata de ayudar a la gente. Cuando haya crédito disponible nuevamente, las familias jóvenes finalmente podrán comprar una nueva vivienda. Y luego alguna compañía contratará empleados para construirla. Y luego esos trabajadores tendrán dinero para gastar, y si también pueden conseguir un préstamo, tal vez, finalmente, se podrán comprar un auto o abrir su propio negocio. Los inversionistas volverán al mercado y las familias estadounidenses verán que ya tienen fondos suficientes para la jubilación. Y poco a poco, la confianza retornará, y nuestra economía se recuperará.
Así que le pedí a este Congreso que me apoyara para hacer todo lo que fuera necesario. Porque no podemos abandonar a nuestra nación a un destino de recesión continua. Y para asegurar que una crisis de esta magnitud no vuelva a suceder, le he pedido al Congreso que apruebe rápidamente una ley que finalmente reforme nuestro obsoleto sistema regulatorio. Es hora de poner en vigor normas nuevas, estrictas y razonables para que nuestro mercado financiero recompense el dinamismo y la innovación, y que sancione los atajos y los abusos.
El plan para la recuperación y el plan para la estabilidad financiera son los pasos inmediatos que estamos dando para reactivar nuestra economía a corto plazo. Pero la única manera de restaurar plenamente la solidez económica de Estados Unidos es hacer las inversiones a largo plazo que generarán nuevos empleos, estimularán nuevas industrias y promoverán un renovado ímpetu para competir con el resto del mundo. La única manera de que este siglo sea otro siglo de liderazgo para Estados Unidos es que finalmente le hagamos frente al precio que pagamos por nuestra dependencia de petróleo y al alto costo de los cuidados de salud; al hecho de que las escuelas no estén preparando a nuestros hijos y la montaña de deuda que van a heredar. Ésa es nuestra responsabilidad.
En los próximos días, presentaré un presupuesto ante el Congreso. Con demasiada frecuencia, hemos visto estos documentos como simples números en un papel o una lista detallada de programas. Veo este documento de forma diferente. Lo veo como una visión para Estados Unidos: un plan de acción para nuestro futuro.
Mi presupuesto no trata de resolver todo problema ni abordar cada tema. Refleja la dura realidad que hemos heredado: un déficit de un billón de dólares, una crisis financiera y una recesión costosa.
Dada la situación, todos en este recinto –demócratas y republicanos– tendrán que sacrificar algunas prioridades loables para las cuales no hay dinero. Y también me incluyo.
Pero eso no significa que podemos darnos el lujo de ignorar nuestros desafíos a largo plazo. Rechazo el punto de vista que dice que nuestros problemas simplemente se resolverán por sí solos, que el gobierno no tiene función alguna en sentar las bases de nuestra prosperidad común.
Porque la historia dice lo contrario. La historia nos recuerda que en toda ocasión de conmoción y trasformación económica, esta nación ha respondido con medidas audaces y grandes ideas. En plena guerra civil, instalamos vías férreas de costa a costa, las cuales fomentaron el comercio y la industria. De la agitación de la Revolución Industrial salió un sistema de escuelas secundarias públicas que preparó a nuestros ciudadanos para una nueva era. Tras la guerra y depresión, el GI Bill [ley para la educación de los veteranos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial] envió a una generación a la universidad y creó la clase media más numerosa de la historia. Y una lucha difusa por la libertad tuvo como resultado un país de carreteras, un estadounidense en la luna y una explosión de tecnología que sigue transformando a nuestro planeta.
En ninguno de los casos el gobierno sustituyó a la empresa privada; fue un catalizador de la empresa privada. Creó las condiciones para que miles de empresarios y nuevas empresas se adaptaran y prosperaran.
Somos una nación que siempre ha visto oportunidades en medio del peligro y ha logrado sacar provecho y salir airosa de experiencias terribles. Ahora debemos volver a ser esa nación. Es por eso que el presupuesto que estoy presentando, incluso al recortar programas que no necesitamos, invertirá en tres sectores que son absolutamente cruciales para nuestro futuro económico: energía, cuidados de salud y educación.
Comienza con la energía.
Sabemos que el país que aproveche el poder de la energía renovable y no contaminante será el líder del siglo XXI. Sin embargo, es la China la que ha lanzado el mayor esfuerzo en la historia para hacer que su economía sea eficiente en términos energéticos. Nosotros inventamos la tecnología solar, pero estamos rezagados en su producción con respecto a países como Alemania y el Japón. Nuevos vehículos eléctricos híbridos salen de nuestras cadenas de montaje, pero operarán con baterías hechas en Corea.
Pues, no acepto un futuro en el que los empleos y las industrias del futuro se originen al otro lado de nuestras fronteras, y sé que ustedes tampoco. Es hora de que Estados Unidos vuelva a ser líder.
Gracias a nuestro plan para la recuperación, aumentaremos al doble el suministro de energía renovable de esta nación en los próximos tres años. También hemos hecho la mayor inversión en fondos para la investigación de base en la historia de Estados Unidos, una inversión que propiciará no sólo nuevos descubrimientos en el sector de energía, sino avances en la medicina, ciencias y tecnología.
Pronto tenderemos miles de millas de cables eléctricos que podrán llevar nueva energía a ciudades y pueblos en todo el país. Y pondremos a los estadounidenses a trabajar haciendo más eficientes nuestros edificios y casas para que podamos ahorrar miles de millones de dólares en nuestras cuentas de energía.
Pero para transformar realmente nuestra economía, para resguardar nuestra seguridad y salvar a nuestro planeta de los estragos del cambio climático, es necesario que a fin de cuentas hagamos de la energía renovable y no contaminante el tipo lucrativo de energía. Por lo tanto, le pido a este Congreso que me remita legislación que imponga un límite basado en el mercado para la contaminación derivada del carbono y que impulse la producción de más energía renovable en Estados Unidos. Y a fin de apoyar esa innovación, invertiremos 15,000 millones de dólares al año para desarrollar tecnología como la energía eólica y la energía solar; biocombustibles avanzados, carbón no contaminante y más autos y camiones de consumo eficiente de combustible, construidos aquí mismo en Estados Unidos.
En cuanto a nuestro sector automovilístico, todos reconocen que años de malas decisiones y una recesión mundial han llevado a nuestros fabricantes de autos al borde del abismo. No debemos protegerlos de sus propias prácticas malas, ni lo haremos. Pero nos hemos comprometido con el objetivo de un sector automotor reequipado y reinventado que pueda competir y ganar. Millones de empleos dependen de ello. Muchísimas comunidades dependen de ello. Y creo que la nación que inventó el automóvil no puede abandonarlo.
Nada de esto sucederá sin un precio ni será fácil. Pero éste es Estados Unidos. No hacemos lo que es fácil. Hacemos lo que es necesario para hacer que este país avance.
Por esa misma razón, debemos también abordar el agobiante costo del cuidado de salud. 
Se trata de un costo que ahora causa una bancarrota en Estados Unidos cada treinta segundos. Para fines de año, podría causar que 1.5 millones de estadounidenses pierdan su casa. En los últimos ocho años, las primas han aumentado cuatro veces más que los salarios. Y en cada uno de esos ocho años, un millón adicional de estadounidenses perdió su seguro médico. Es una de las principales razones por las que las pequeñas empresas cierran sus puertas y las corporaciones mandan empleos al extranjero. Y es uno de los rubros más costosos y de más rápido crecimiento en nuestro presupuesto.
Dado todo esto, ya no podemos darnos el lujo de posponer la reforma del cuidado de salud.
En tan sólo los últimos treinta días, hemos hecho más que en la última década por hacer que avance la causa de la reforma del cuidado de salud. A pocos días del inicio de sesiones, este Congreso aprobó una ley para otorgar y proteger el seguro médico de once millones de niños estadounidenses cuyos padres trabajan a tiempo completo. Nuestro plan para la recuperación invertirá en historias médicas electrónicas y nueva tecnología que disminuirá errores, reducirá los costos, asegurará la confidencialidad y salvará vidas. Lanzará un nuevo esfuerzo por buscar la cura del cáncer, una enfermedad que ha afectado la vida de casi todos los estadounidenses en nuestros tiempos. Y hace la mayor inversión en cuidado preventivo en la historia, porque ésa es una de las mejores maneras de mantener a nuestro pueblo sano y nuestros costos bajo control.
Este presupuesto lleva estas reformas un paso adelante. Incluye un histórico compromiso con la reforma integral del cuidado de salud; una cuota inicial siguiendo el principio de que debemos tener cuidado de salud económico y de calidad para todo estadounidense. Es un compromiso que se paga en parte por medidas eficientes que esperamos desde hace tiempo. Y es un paso que debemos dar si esperamos reducir nuestro déficit en los próximos años.
Ahora, habrá muchas opiniones e ideas diferentes sobre cómo lograr la reforma, y es por eso que estoy congregando a personas de negocios y trabajadores, médicos y proveedores de salud, demócratas y republicanos, para que comiencen a trabajar la próxima semana en este asunto.
No soy un iluso. Sé que no será un proceso fácil. Será difícil. Pero también sé que casi un siglo después de que Teddy Roosevelt propusiera las primeras reformas, el costo de nuestro cuidado de salud ha agobiado nuestra economía y la conciencia de nuestra nación durante demasiado tiempo. Entonces, que no quepa duda alguna: la reforma del cuidado de salud no puede esperar, no debe esperar, ni esperará un año más.  
El tercer desafío que debemos abordar es la urgente necesidad de extender la promesa de la educación en Estados Unidos. 
En una economía mundial en la que la destreza más valiosa que se puede vender son los conocimientos propios, una buena educación ya no es simplemente una forma de acceder a las oportunidades; es un prerrequisito. 
En este momento, dos tercios de las ocupaciones de más rápido crecimiento requieren más que un diploma de secundaria. Sin embargo, poco más de la mitad de nuestros ciudadanos tiene ese nivel de educación. Entre los países industrializados, tenemos una de las más altas tasas de estudiantes que no terminan la escuela secundaria. Y la mitad de los estudiantes que comienzan sus estudios universitarios no los terminan.
Ésta es una receta para el declive económico, porque sabemos que los países que enseñan mejor que nosotros hoy en día nos superarán el día de mañana. Es por eso que será un objetivo de este gobierno asegurar que todo niño tenga acceso a una educación completa y competitiva, desde el día que nazca hasta el día que inicie una carrera.
Ya hemos hecho una inversión histórica en la educación por medio del plan para la recuperación económica. Hemos ampliado considerablemente la educación inicial y continuaremos mejorando su calidad, porque sabemos que el aprendizaje más formativo tiene lugar en esos primeros años de vida. Hemos puesto los estudios universitarios al alcance de casi siete millones de estudiantes adicionales. Y hemos proporcionado los recursos necesarios para evitar dolorosos recortes y despidos de maestros que detendrían el progreso de nuestros niños.
Pero sabemos que nuestras escuelas no sólo necesitan más recursos. Necesitan más reformas. Es por eso que este presupuesto crea nuevos incentivos para el desempeño de los maestros; vías para ascender y recompensas para el éxito. Invertiremos en programas innovadores que ya están ayudando a las escuelas a cumplir con altos estándares y disminuir las diferencias en el rendimiento. Y aumentaremos nuestro compromiso con las escuelas públicas independientes (charter schools). 
Es nuestra responsabilidad como legisladores y educadores hacer que este sistema funcione. Pero es la responsabilidad de cada ciudadano participar en él. Y entonces, esta noche, le pido a todo estadounidense que se comprometa por lo menos a un año o más de educación superior o capacitación laboral. Esto puede ser en una institución comunitaria de enseñanza superior o una universidad de cuatro años; capacitación vocacional o pasantía. Pero independientemente de la capacitación, todo estadounidense deberá contar con algo más que el diploma de la secundaria. Y abandonar la escuela secundaria ya no es una opción. No es solamente darse por vencido, es fallarle al país, y este país necesita y valora el talento de todo estadounidense. Es por eso que proporcionaremos la ayuda necesaria para que concluyan sus estudios universitarios y logren un nuevo objetivo: para el 2020, Estados Unidos volverá a tener la más alta tasa mundial de personas con grado universitario. 
Sé que el precio de las matrículas es más alto que nunca, por lo que si están dispuestos a ofrecerse de voluntarios en sus vecindarios y hacer aportes a su comunidad o ponerse al servicio de su país, nos aseguraremos de que pueda pagar una educación universitaria. Y para alentar un espíritu renovado de servicio nacional para esta generación y las futuras, le pido a este Congreso que me remita la legislación respaldada por ambos partidos que tiene el nombre del senador Orrin Hatch, como también el de un estadounidense que nunca ha dejado de preguntar qué puede hacer por su país: el senador Edward Kennedy.
Esta política educativa les abrirá las puertas a nuestros hijos. Pero depende de nosotros el asegurarnos de que pasen por ellas. A fin de cuentas, no existe programa ni política que pueda sustituir a una madre o un padre que vaya a las reuniones con los maestros o que ayude con los deberes después de la cena o que apague el televisor, guarde los videojuegos y le lea a sus hijos. Les hablo no sólo como Presidente, sino como padre cuando les digo que la responsabilidad por la educación de nuestros hijos debe comenzar en casa.
Tenemos, por supuesto, otra responsabilidad con nuestros hijos. Y ésa es la responsabilidad de asegurarnos de que no hereden una deuda que no puedan pagar. Con el déficit que nosotros heredamos, el costo de la crisis que enfrentamos y los desafíos a largo plazo que debemos afrontar, nunca ha sido más importante asegurar que a medida que nuestra economía se recupere, hagamos lo necesario para reducir este déficit.
Es un orgullo para mí que aprobáramos el plan para la recuperación sin asignaciones para proyectos particulares (earmarks), y deseo que se apruebe un presupuesto el próximo año que asegure que cada dólar gastado refleje sólo nuestras más importantes prioridades nacionales.
Ayer tuve una cumbre fiscal en la que prometí reducir el déficit a la mitad para fines de mi primer periodo como Presidente. Mi gobierno también comenzó a analizar el presupuesto federal rubro por rubro para eliminar los programas ineficientes y que desperdician dinero. Como se pueden imaginar, éste es un proceso que tomará tiempo. Pero estamos comenzando con las partidas más grandes. Ya hemos identificado ahorros por dos billones de dólares en la próxima década.
En este presupuesto, acabaremos con programas educativos que no funcionan y con pagos directos a agroempresas grandes que no los necesitan. Eliminaremos los contratos otorgados sin licitación que han malgastado miles de millones en Irak, y reformaremos nuestro presupuesto de defensa para que no paguemos por armamento de la época de la Guerra Fría que no usamos. Eliminaremos el despilfarro, fraude y abuso en nuestro programa de Medicare que no mejore la salud de las personas mayores, y devolveremos un sentido de equidad y equilibrio a nuestro código tributario acabando por fin con los recortes tributarios a corporaciones que envían nuestros empleos al extranjero.
Para rescatar a nuestros niños de un futuro con endeudamiento, también acabaremos con los recortes tributarios del 2% más acaudalado entre los estadounidenses. Pero permítanme ser perfectamente claro, porque sé que escucharán las mismas afirmaciones de siempre que dicen que acabar con esos recortes significa un aumento masivo en los impuestos del pueblo estadounidense: si su familia gana menos de $250,000 al año, sus impuestos no aumentarán ni diez centavos. Les repito: ni diez centavos. De hecho, el plan para la recuperación otorga un recorte tributario –correcto, un recorte tributario– para 95% de las familias trabajadoras. Y esos cheques están en camino. 
A fin de mantener nuestro bienestar fiscal a largo plazo, también debemos abordar los costos en aumento de Medicare y el Seguro Social. La reforma integral del cuidado de salud es la mejor manera de afianzar el Medicare para el futuro. Y también debemos dar inicio a la conversación sobre maneras de hacer lo mismo con el Seguro Social y a la vez, crear cuentas de ahorro universales y libres de impuestos para todos los estadounidenses.
Finalmente, ya que también padecemos de una falta de confianza, me he comprometido a restaurar un sentido de honradez y responsabilidad en nuestro presupuesto. Es por eso que este presupuesto mira diez años hacia el futuro y da cuenta de gastos que se omitían conforme a las viejas normas, y por primera vez, eso incluye el costo total de luchar en Irak y Afganistán. Durante siete años, la nuestra ha sido una nación en guerra. Dejaremos de esconder su precio.
Estamos examinando detenidamente nuestra política en ambas guerras, y pronto anunciaré un camino a seguir en Irak que deje a Irak en manos de su pueblo y acabe con esta guerra de forma responsable.
Y con nuestros amigos y aliados, dictaremos una nueva estrategia integral para Afganistán y Pakistán a fin de vencer a Al Qaida y combatir el extremismo. Porque no permitiré que los terroristas confabulen contra el pueblo estadounidense desde refugios al otro lado del mundo.
Mientras nos reunimos esta noche, nuestros hombres y mujeres de uniforme hacen guardia en el extranjero y otros más se alistan para su movilización. A todos y cada uno de ellos, y a las familias que sobrellevan la carga silenciosa de su ausencia, los estadounidenses se unen para enviarles un mensaje: respetamos su servicio, nos inspiran sus sacrificios, y cuentan con nuestro apoyo inquebrantable. Para aliviar la carga de nuestras fuerzas armadas, mi presupuesto aumenta el número de soldados e infantes de Marina. Y a fin de cumplir con nuestras sagradas obligaciones para con quienes están en el servicio, aumentaremos su paga y les otorgaremos a nuestros veteranos la expansión del cuidado de salud y los beneficios que se merecen.
Para derrotar al extremismo, debemos también estar alerta y respaldar los valores que nuestras tropas defienden, porque no existe fuerza más poderosa en el mundo que el ejemplo de Estados Unidos. Es por eso que he ordenado que se cierre el centro de detención de la Bahía de Guantánamo, y procuraremos que se lleve ante la justicia, de forma rápida y segura, a los terroristas capturados, porque vivir conforme a nuestros valores no nos hace más débiles; nos da mayor seguridad y nos da mayor fuerza. Y es por eso que puedo pararme aquí esta noche y decir, sin excepciones ni evasivas, que Estados Unidos no tortura.
En nuestras palabras y acciones, estamos mostrándole al mundo que se ha iniciado una nueva era de participación, pues sabemos que Estados Unidos no puede hacerle frente solo a las amenazas de este siglo, pero el mundo no puede afrontarlas sin Estados Unidos. No podemos eludir la mesa de negociación ni ignorar a los enemigos o las fuerzas que podrían causarnos daño. En vez, se nos llama a proseguir con el sentido de confianza y franqueza que exige la seriedad de los tiempos.
Para procurar el progreso hacia una paz segura y perdurable entre Israel y sus vecinos, hemos designado a un enviado para apoyar nuestros esfuerzos. Para hacerle frente a los desafíos del siglo XXI –desde el terrorismo hasta la proliferación nuclear; desde las enfermedades pandémicas hasta las amenazas cibernéticas y la pobreza agobiante– afianzaremos viejas alianzas, forjaremos nuevas y usaremos todos los elementos de nuestro poder nacional.
Y para responder a una crisis económica que es mundial en su alcance, estamos colaborando con los países del G-20 a fin de restaurar la confianza en nuestro sistema financiero, evitar la posibilidad de un aumento en el proteccionismo y estimular la demanda de productos estadounidenses en mercados de todo el mundo; porque el mundo depende de que tengamos una economía sólida, así como nuestra economía depende de la solidez de la internacional.
Ahora que nos encontramos en un momento decisivo de la historia, los ojos de todas las personas en todas las naciones se posan en nosotros una vez más, y nos observan para ver qué hacemos en este momento; aguardan nuestra dirección.  
Los que estamos aquí reunidos esta noche hemos sido escogidos para gobernar en tiempos extraordinarios. Es una gran carga, pero también un gran privilegio que se ha confiado a pocas generaciones de estadounidenses; porque en nuestras manos recae la capacidad de influir en nuestro mundo para bien o para mal.
Sé que es fácil perder de vista este hecho, caer en el cinismo y en la duda, dejarnos consumir por lo mezquino y lo trivial.
Pero en mi vida, también he aprendido que la esperanza se encuentra en lugares poco probables; que la inspiración proviene no de quienes son más poderosos o célebres, sino de los sueños y las aspiraciones de los estadounidenses que no tienen nada de comunes y corrientes.
Pienso en Leonard Abess, el presidente de un banco en Miami quien, según se reportó, vendió su parte de su compañía, recibió una bonificación de $60 millones y se la dio a todas las 399 personas que trabajaron para él y a otras 72 que solían hacerlo. No se lo dijo a nadie, pero cuando un diario local lo averiguó, simplemente dijo, ''Conozco a algunas de esas personas desde que tengo 7 años. No me pareció correcto que sólo yo recibiera el dinero".
Pienso en Greensburg, Kansas, un pueblo que fue destruido totalmente por un tornado, pero que está siendo reconstruido por sus residentes, en un ejemplo global de cómo toda una comunidad puede funcionar con energía no contaminante, cómo ésta puede llevar empleos y actividad comercial a un lugar donde alguna vez yacían rumas de ladrillos y escombros. "La tragedia fue terrible", dijo uno de los hombres que ayudó en la reconstrucción. "Pero la gente de acá sabe que también les brindó una oportunidad increíble".
Y pienso en Ty’Sheoma Bethea, la niñita de esa escuela que visité en Dillon, Carolina del Sur, un lugar donde los techos gotean, la pintura se pela de las paredes y tienen que dejar de enseñar seis veces al día porque el tren pasa a toda velocidad cerca de su aula. Le dijeron que su escuela no tiene esperanza, pero el otro día después de clases fue a la biblioteca pública y les escribió una carta a las personas sentadas en este recinto. Incluso le pidió dinero a su director para comprar una estampilla. La carta nos pide ayuda y dice, "Somos simplemente estudiantes tratando de ser abogados, médicos, congresistas como ustedes y algún día, presidentes, para que podamos producir un cambio no sólo en el estado de Carolina del Sur sino también en el mundo. No somos de los que se dan por vencidos".
No somos de los que se dan por vencidos.
Estas palabras y estos casos nos dicen algo sobre el espíritu de las personas que nos trajeron aquí. Nos dicen que incluso en los momentos más duros, en medio de las circunstancias más difíciles, existe una generosidad, una adaptabilidad, una decencia y una determinación que perseveran; una voluntad de asumir responsabilidad por nuestro futuro y por la posteridad.
Su determinación debe ser nuestra inspiración. Sus inquietudes deben ser nuestra causa. Y debemos mostrarles a ellos y a todo nuestro pueblo que estamos a la altura de la tarea ante nosotros.
Sé que hasta ahora no hemos estado de acuerdo en todo, y no hay duda de que en el futuro habrá ocasiones en las que discreparemos. Pero también sé que todo estadounidense sentado aquí esta noche ama a este país y quiere que tenga éxito. Ése debe ser el punto de partida para cada debate que tengamos en los próximos meses y el punto de retorno cuando concluyan dichos debates. Ésa es la base sobre la cual el pueblo estadounidense espera que encontremos terreno común.
Y si lo hacemos, si nos unimos y sacamos a este país de la profundidad de esta crisis; si hacemos que nuestra gente vuelva a trabajar y volvemos a poner en marcha el motor de nuestra prosperidad; si enfrentamos los desafíos de nuestros tiempos y hacemos un llamado a ese espíritu perdurable de un estadounidense que no se da por vencido, entonces algún día, dentro de muchos años, nuestros hijos podrán decirles a sus hijos que éste fue el momento en que hicimos, en palabras que están talladas en este recinto, "algo digno de ser recordado". Gracias, que Dios los bendiga y que Dios bendiga a Estados Unidos de América.
Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
Address to Joint Session of Congress
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

(en español)
Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:
I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here. 
I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others.  And rightly so.  If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has – a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family.  You don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day.  It’s the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights.  It’s the job you thought you’d retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope.  The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.    
But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:
We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before. 
The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation.  The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach.  They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth.  Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure.  What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.
Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities – as a government or as a people.  I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament. 
The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight.  Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank.  We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy.  Yet we import more oil today than ever before.  The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform.  Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for.  And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before.
In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election.  A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future.  Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market.  People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway.  And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day. 
Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.
Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.  Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down.  That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight. 
It’s an agenda that begins with jobs. 
As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President’s Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets.  Not because I believe in bigger government – I don’t.  Not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited – I am.  I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships.  In fact, a failure to act would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years.  That’s why I pushed for quick action.  And tonight, I am grateful that this Congress delivered, and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law.   
Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs.  More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit.
Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their jobs and educate our kids.  Health care professionals can continue caring for our sick.  There are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs their department was about to make. 
Because of this plan, 95% of the working households in America will receive a tax cut – a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st.
Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college.  And Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to help them weather this storm. 
I know there are some in this chamber and watching at home who are skeptical of whether this plan will work.  I understand that skepticism.  Here in Washington, we’ve all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending.  And with a plan of this scale comes enormous responsibility to get it right.
That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort – because nobody messes with Joe.  I have told each member of my Cabinet as well as mayors and governors across the country that they will be held accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend.  I have appointed a proven and aggressive Inspector General to ferret out any and all cases of waste and fraud.  And we have created a new website called recovery.gov so that every American can find out how and where their money is being spent. 
So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our economy back on track.  But it is just the first step.  Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has severely weakened our financial system.
I want to speak plainly and candidly about this issue tonight, because every American should know that it directly affects you and your family’s well-being.  You should also know that the money you’ve deposited in banks across the country is safe; your insurance is secure; and you can rely on the continued operation of our financial system.  That is not the source of concern.
The concern is that if we do not re-start lending in this country, our recovery will be choked off before it even begins. 
You see, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy.  The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education; how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll.
But credit has stopped flowing the way it should.  Too many bad loans from the housing crisis have made their way onto the books of too many banks.  With so much debt and so little confidence, these banks are now fearful of lending out any more money to households, to businesses, or to each other.  When there is no lending, families can’t afford to buy homes or cars.  So businesses are forced to make layoffs.  Our economy suffers even more, and credit dries up even further. 
That is why this administration is moving swiftly and aggressively to break this destructive cycle, restore confidence, and re-start lending.
We will do so in several ways.  First, we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to the consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running.   
Second, we have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages.  It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values – Americans who will now be able to take advantage of the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring about.  In fact, the average family who re-finances today can save nearly $2000 per year on their mortgage.   
Third, we will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times.  And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy.
I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more comforted by an approach that gives banks bailouts with no strings attached, and that holds nobody accountable for their reckless decisions.  But such an approach won’t solve the problem.  And our goal is to quicken the day when we re-start lending to the American people and American business and end this crisis once and for all.
I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer.  This time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet.  Those days are over. 
Still, this plan will require significant resources from the federal government – and yes, probably more than we’ve already set aside.  But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade.  That would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and worse for the next generation.  And I refuse to let that happen.     
I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and results that followed.  So were the American taxpayers.  So was I. 
So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions.  I promise you – I get it. 
But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment.  My job – our job – is to solve the problem.  Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility.  I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage. 
That’s what this is about.  It’s not about helping banks – it’s about helping people.  Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home.  And then some company will hire workers to build it.  And then those workers will have money to spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they’ll finally buy that car, or open their own business.  Investors will return to the market, and American families will see their retirement secured once more.  Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover.     
So I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves necessary.  Because we cannot consign our nation to an open-ended recession.  And to ensure that a crisis of this magnitude never happens again, I ask Congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system.  It is time to put in place tough, new common-sense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards drive and innovation, and punishes short-cuts and abuse. 
The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term.  But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit.  That is our responsibility.
In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress.  So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs.  I see this document differently.  I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future.
My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue.  It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession. 
Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars.  And that includes me.  
But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges.  I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.
For history tells a different story.  History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas.  In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry.  From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age.  In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history.  And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world. 
In each case, government didn’t supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise.  It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive. 
We are a nation that has seen promise amid peril, and claimed opportunity from ordeal.  Now we must be that nation again.  That is why, even as it cuts back on the programs we don’t need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future:  energy, health care, and education. 
It begins with energy. 
We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century.  And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient.  We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it.  New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea. 
Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either.  It is time for America to lead again. 
Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years.  We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history – an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology. 
We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country.  And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills. 
But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.  So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America.  And to support that innovation, we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America.
As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink.  We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices.  But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win.  Millions of jobs depend on it.  Scores of communities depend on it.  And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it. 
None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy.  But this is America.  We don’t do what’s easy.  We do what is necessary to move this country forward.
For that same reason, we must also address the crushing cost of health care.   
This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds.  By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes.  In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages.  And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance.  It is one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas.  And it’s one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of our budget. 
Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold.
Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade.  When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for eleven million American children whose parents work full-time.  Our recovery plan will invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives.  It will launch a new effort to conquer a disease that has touched the life of nearly every American by seeking a cure for cancer in our time.  And it makes the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that is one of the best ways to keep our people healthy and our costs under control. 
This budget builds on these reforms.  It includes an historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform – a down-payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American.  It’s a commitment that’s paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue.  And it’s a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come. 
Now, there will be many different opinions and ideas about how to achieve reform, and that is why I’m bringing together businesses and workers, doctors and health care providers, Democrats and Republicans to begin work on this issue next week. 
I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process.  It will be hard.  But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough.  So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.     
The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America.   
In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a pre-requisite.    
Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma.  And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education.  We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation.  And half of the students who begin college never finish. 
This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education – from the day they are born to the day they begin a career. 
Already, we have made an historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan.  We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life.  We have made college affordable for nearly seven million more students.  And we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children’s progress. 
But we know that our schools don’t just need more resources.  They need more reform.  That is why this budget creates new incentives for teacher performance; pathways for advancement, and rewards for success.  We’ll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps.  And we will expand our commitment to charter schools.  
It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work.  But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it.  And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.  This 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 dropping out of high school is no longer an option.  It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American.  That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal:  by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.  
I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why if you are willing to volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education.  And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask this Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin Hatch as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country – Senator Edward Kennedy. 
These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children.  But it is up to us to ensure they walk through them.  In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child.  I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home. 
There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children.  And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay.  With the deficit we inherited, the cost of the crisis we face, and the long-term challenges we must meet, it has never been more important to ensure that as our economy recovers, we do what it takes to bring this deficit down.
I’m proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities. 
Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office.  My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs.  As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time.  But we’re starting with the biggest lines.  We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.
In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them.  We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use.  We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas. 
In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans.  But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people:  if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime.  I repeat: not one single dime.  In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut – that’s right, a tax cut – for 95% of working families.  And these checks are on the way.    
To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security.  Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come.  And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans.
Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget.  That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  For seven years, we have been a nation at war.  No longer will we hide its price.
We are now carefully reviewing our policies in both wars, and I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war. 
And with our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda and combat extremism.  Because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens half a world away. 
As we meet here tonight, our men and women in uniform stand watch abroad and more are readying to deploy. To each and every one of them, and to the families who bear the quiet burden of their absence, Americans are united in sending one message: we honor your service, we are inspired by your sacrifice, and you have our unyielding support.  To relieve the strain on our forces, my budget increases the number of our soldiers and Marines. And to keep our sacred trust with those who serve, we will raise their pay, and give our veterans the expanded health care and benefits that they have earned. 
To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend – because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists – because living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger.  And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.
In words and deeds, we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun.  For we know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America.  We cannot shun the negotiating table, nor ignore the foes or forces that could do us harm.  We are instead called to move forward with the sense of confidence and candor that serious times demand.
To seek progress toward a secure and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors, we have appointed an envoy to sustain our effort.  To meet the challenges of the 21st century – from terrorism to nuclear proliferation; from pandemic disease to cyber threats to crushing poverty – we will strengthen old alliances, forge new ones, and use all elements of our national power. 
And to respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 to restore confidence in our financial system, avoid the possibility of escalating protectionism, and spur demand for American goods in markets across the globe.  For the world depends on us to have a strong economy, just as our economy depends on the strength of the world’s. 
As we stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us – watching to see what we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead.     
Those of us gathered here tonight have been called to govern in extraordinary times.  It is a tremendous burden, but also a great privilege – one that has been entrusted to few generations of Americans.  For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world for good or for ill. 
I know that it is easy to lose sight of this truth – to become cynical and doubtful; consumed with the petty and the trivial. 
But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary. 
I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him.  He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old.  I didn't feel right getting the money myself."
I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay.  "The tragedy was terrible," said one of the men who helped them rebuild.  "But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity."     
And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom.  She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room.  She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp.  The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world.  We are not quitters." 
We are not quitters. 
These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here.  They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.
Their resolve must be our inspiration.  Their concerns must be our cause.  And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us. 
I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways.  But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed.  That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done.  That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.
And if we do – if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, "something worthy to be remembered."  Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                                        February 24, 2009
 

Oval Office

10:35 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I would just like to say welcome to the Prime Minister. Obviously the friendship between the United States and Japan is extraordinarily important to our country. It is for that reason that the Prime Minister is the first foreign dignitary to visit me here in the Oval Office. I think it's a testimony to the strong partnership between the United States and Japan.

The alliance that we have is the cornerstone of security in East Asia. It's one that my administration wants to strengthen. We think that we have an opportunity to work together not only on issues related to the Pacific Rim but throughout the world, and Japan has been a great partner on issues ranging from climate change to Afghanistan. We're going to have a very busy session, and I'm very grateful that the Prime Minister agreed to come and I'm looking forward to a very constructive dialogue.

PRIME MINISTER ASO: Do I have to say something? Well, first of all, thank you very much for inviting me as a foreign official, a foreign guest, to the White House. On behalf of not only Japan but as a nation, we are very honored to be here as the first of foreign guests.

Nowadays there are so many issues we will have to (inaudible), and we as a number one and second biggest economies of the world, we will have to work together, hand in hand. And I think we are the only two nations which can offer enough to solve those very critical, vital issue of the world. I do hope our cooperation will help for the future generation of the world.

THE PRESIDENT: All right. Thank you, guys.

Q Why Japan --

THE PRESIDENT: It's a great partner, and as I said, a cornerstone of security as well as one of our strongest economic partners. Thank you very much, guys.

END 10:38 A.M. EST

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release                           February 23, 2009
 
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
AT THE CLOSING OF THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY SUMMIT
 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Room 450
4:04 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Please have a seat.  Well, this says something -- I don't know what -- about all of you, that I hear you really enjoyed this fiscal responsibility summit.  (Laughter.)  I mean, it's a sign of a -- (laughter) -- something.  (Laughter.)  Illness, right.
I understand you guys had great breakout sessions, and my advisors just filled me in on some of the issues that came up.  I want to -- I want to just provide a few opening remarks, and then we'll just open it up for questions and comments.
The idea here was to bring everybody together because it's been a long time since we had this conversation.  And over the last eight years, I think we've seen a continued deterioration in the government's balance sheets.
My sense is that, despite partisan differences, despite regional differences and different priorities, everybody is concerned about the legacy we're leaving to our children.  And the hope was, is that if we had a forum like this to start talking about these issues that it would turn out that there are real opportunities for progress -- there are going to be some areas where we can't make progress -- but that we have more in common that we expect.  And I appreciate that while we may have different opinions, there's a renewed willingness to put some concrete ideas on the table, even on those issues that are politically tough, and that's real progress.
A couple of takeaways that my staff indicated to me.  There was a healthy debate on Social Security, but also a healthy consensus among some participants, including Congressmen Boehner and Hoyer as well as Senator Graham and Senator Durbin, that this was a moment to work in a bipartisan way to make progress on ensuring Americans' retirement security.  And I think one of the things we want to do is to figure out how do we capture that momentum.
Over the longer run, putting America on a sustainable fiscal course will require addressing health care.  That seemed to be an issue that there was a lot of consensus around.  Many of you said what I believe, that the biggest source of our deficits is the rising cost of health care.  It's a challenge that impacts businesses, workers and families alike.  And voices as varied as Senator Alexander, Douglas Holtz-Eakin to Senator Baucus and Senator Dodd and Representative Waxman, all agreed to try to tackle health care this year, which I think that offers extraordinary promise, although peril, as well.
The tax reform discussion underscored clear agreement that the tax process has to be simplified for all Americans.  The task force on the budget process yielded some unanimous agreement that the existing -- existing process wasn't working.  The question is whether we'll have the commitment and discipline to do what we know needs to be done and whether we need to create some new mechanisms to deal with these challenges.
Now, I want to make sure that the conversation doesn't end when we go home today.  We've got a lot of hard choices to make.  We need to build off this afternoon's conversation and work together to forge a consensus. 
So one of the things that I'm hoping to do is that my team, each of whom were taking copious notes during the course of these respective breakout sessions, will issue a report or a summary of the conversation.  It will be distributed to each of the participants in those respective discussions.  We will then ask for concrete ideas, either about substance or process, and we will ask that you get those back so that we can then issue a final report coming out of this conversation in 30 days.
And we're -- I think somebody just dubbed this the "fiscal sustainability project," so that's as good of a name as any.  And the idea then is, is that there will be a constant loop between the White House and all of you about how we should move forward on this, and hopefully this will start breaking down into some concrete takeaways and tasks.  Some of the recommendations that have been made are already reflected in the budget that we're proposing.  Some new ideas may have arisen that we did not think of and that can be incorporated as the budget process moves forward in Congress.
And so we are very much looking forward to hearing from your ideas, both about process and about substance.  And then we will in 30 days' time be able to come out with a series of recommendations.  In some cases there may be some things that we can do by executive order that don't require legislation, but there seems to be some consensus they are smart things to do.  In other cases, it's going to require a legislative -- some legislative decisions, and we're going to collaborate closely with the relevant chairs and committees that have jurisdiction.
So, with that, let me just stop.  And what I want to do is just get some comments.  A lot of you have been working hard on this, but I'm going to use my presidential prerogative and call on a couple of people first, and then if other people have comments that they want to offer, please raise your hands.
And I'm going to start with John McCain because -- you know, he and I had some good debates about these issues -- (laughter) -- and I mean what I say here, I think John has also been extraordinarily consistent and sincere about these issues and I want to see if, John, you've got some thoughts about where we need to go and some priority areas.  I know you were in procurement, for example, which is an area I know we would like to work on together with you.
SENATOR McCAIN:  Well, thank you, Mr. President, and thank you for doing this.  I think it's very important.  This particular breakout session is -- we had our -- the Secretary of Homeland Security was our leader.  And so I think it was a very fruitful discussion.
Just one area that I wanted to mention that I think consumed a lot of our conversation on procurement was the issue of cost overruns in the Defense Department.  We all know how large the defense budget is.  We all know that the cost overruns -- your helicopter is now going to cost as much as Air Force One.  I don't think that there's any more graphic demonstration of how good ideas have cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money.
So we will -- and I know that you've already made plans to try to curb some of the excesses in procurement.  We really have to do that.  We're going to have to pay for Afghanistan, as you well know, and we're not done in Iraq.  But most importantly, we have to make some tough decisions -- you, Mr. President, have to make some tough decisions about not only what we procure, but how we procure it.
And I thank you for the opportunity and sharing your thoughts with a lot of very smart people.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, John, let me -- this is going to be one of our highest priorities.  By the way, I've already talked to Gates about a thorough review of the helicopter situation.  The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me.  (Laughter.)  Of course, I've never had a helicopter before -- (laughter) -- maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it.  (Laughter.)
But I think it is a -- it is a -- an example of the procurement process gone amuck.  And we're going to have to fix it.  Our hope is, is that you, Senator Levin, and others, can really take some leadership on this.
And one of the promising things is I think Secretary Gates shares our concern and he recognizes that simply adding more and more does not necessarily mean better and better, or safer and more secure.  Those two things are not -- they don't always move in parallel tracks, and we've got to think that through.
Steny, you participated in the Social Security panel.
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  First off, I think that the Social Security section was a very, very productive section.  I think that there's some honest, as you would think, disagreements, but as was indicated earlier, John Boehner, myself in particular, Lindsey Thomas --
THE PRESIDENT:  Lindsey Graham.  I don't know about Lindsey Thomas, but I know Lindsey Graham.  (Laughter.)
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  Lindsey Graham.  (Laughter.)  South Carolina is not Louisiana, right?  I got you.  That'll work.  (Laughter.)  But Lindsey Graham.  Everybody gave some very solid recommendations.  And I think there was in fact a consensus, an understanding of the different perspectives and ways and means to get to an objective was essentially that getting to an objective serves a number of purposes.  Obviously, from a fiscal standpoint it served a purpose, but also in giving both seniors and young people confidence that benefits would be available to them in the short term, and from a young people's standpoint, in the long term.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  If I can --
THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  I think your comment that follow-through is going to be essential; that if we come together and have a good discussion, (inaudible) -- a lot of bright people who have some very good information from various, different (inaudible) -- interest groups who represent large constituencies.  If it just stops there, then it won't have been as useful as you want it to be and as the country wants it to be.
THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Speaking of bright people with large constituencies -- Bill Novelli.  Where's Bill?  Is he still here?  There you are.
I know you participated in the health care panel.  Bill, your thoughts on Medicare and the interest of your membership in getting an equitable solution to what is an unsustainable situation.
MR. NOVELLI:  The whole entitlement thing is as you characterized it.  We have a real sustainability problem.  But I think you put the right frame on this, Mr. President, by saying that the path to sustainability is health care reform.  And our group I think had tremendously good ideas.  Most of the policy ideas that we all know and share were on the table today.
There's a lot of hard policy work that's going to have to go on, but I think we have some momentum.  But I think one of the things that also came out of the session was, we need to engage the American people.  Yes, we have to think of them as patients,  we have to think of them as insured or uninsured -- but we also have to think of them as taxpayers and as voters who need to understand what the tradeoffs are, what they might lose, what they might gain.  We can all do that, but nobody could do it as well as you can.  You've got the bully pulpit to really carry your message to the public.
THE PRESIDENT:  I appreciate that.  This is the only area where we had done a little prejudging of what needs to be done.  We have scheduled a health care summit next week.  It's not that I've got summititis here -- (laughter) -- but rather, it's actually exactly the point that you're making, Bill, which is everybody here understands a lot of the tradeoffs involved in health care and that there are no perfect solutions.
But in the sound bite, political culture that we got, it's very hard to communicate that.  And we think that it's very important to have some forums -- and I talked about this during -- way back in the primary campaign, that there is a process that the public can listen to about what these tradeoffs are, because I think that some of us get on our high horse and say we've got the answer to health care.  Well, it turns out that, you know, there are costs involved on the front end even if the benefits accrue in the out years.  There are situations in terms of people, if they've got health insurance, sort of liking what they've got now, they just want it for cheaper.  There are issues in terms of providers and them feeling like they're getting squeezed.
And so making sure that all that stuff is surfaced in public and we're educating the public on some of these issues can be very important if we're going to make progress because -- you know, some of these things will ultimately involve some tough decisions and some tough votes.
So, budget process -- Kent, you participated and I want to get both your views and John Spratt's views on -- I don't know if John is still here; there he is -- on budget process and how you think we're going to need to clean this stuff up.
SENATOR CONRAD:  Well, first of all, thank you for doing this.  I thought it was a terrific start in the White House.  I think Bob Greenstein said it very well when he talked about us being on an unsustainable course -- the debt being the threat, because we've doubled the debt in the last eight years; tripled foreign holdings of the debt -- last year when we went out to finance this debt, 68 percent came from foreign enemies.  So that creates a vulnerability.
How do we address it?  That is the $64,000 question.  And that's what we addressed in our group.  I think it's fair to say there were different views.  Many of us believe it's going to take some special process to bring all of the players together to write a plan so that we see the tradeoffs between what's available for health care reform, which without question is the 800-pound gorilla; Social Security, which also has to be addressed for the long term; and revenue.
Revenue is the thing almost nobody wants to talk about, but I think if we're going to be honest with each other, we better recognize that is part of the solution, as well.  And it's very hard to know what you are going to do with Medicare unless you know what revenue is going to be.  Very hard to know what you're going to do with Social Security without knowing what revenue is going to be.  So somehow we've got to come together around a plan, and of course that depends on presidential leadership, which you certainly provided here today.
THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Thank you.
John.
REPRESENTATIVE SPRATT:  I got a bum leg, Mr. President -- you'll have to excuse me, sir.  Thank you for holding this.
I participated in the 1997 balanced budget negotiations; that was the last time we were at the White House to discuss -- in common, Democrats and Republicans -- some common ground that we could both take up (inaudible) issues.  Thank you for doing this again -- (inaudible).
I would agree with Kent that we agree we need a special process.  We didn't come to final agreement on exactly what that process would be -- would it be a task force or a steering committee within the Congress, or a commission from without Congress?  That's still an issue to be resolved.  But I don't think it's an issue we can't resolve.  And we moved towards discussion of some sort of hybrid of the two.
Clearly that's important.  I think everyone in that room would agree that if we're to succeed at what we're setting out to do, we need a special process that we can -- by which we can accomplish it.  (Inaudible) -- you need to have some assurance that whatever we agree upon can indeed be brought to the floor of each House and brought to a vote.
Many of us think it's too draconian to compare this to the BRAC process where you get an up or down vote, no amendments.  But there needs to be some sort of fast track and special procedure to ensure that whatever the entities come up with it will be viewed and considered.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Jack.
Since I see her right -- sitting right next to you, Susan, you were in the procurement task force?
SENATOR COLLINS:  Yes.
THE PRESIDENT:  Did you have any thoughts on --
SENATOR COLLINS:  Yes.  If you look across the federal government, there are problems in IT contracts no matter where you look.  And one recommendation that our group talked about is establishing some kind of (inaudible) law to apply to IT contracts.
In general, we also talked about the need for more competition in contracts, for justification for a cost-plus contract.  My favorite pet peeve is we don't have enough skilled contracting officers.  We've had an enormous increase in the volume of contracts at a time when the acquisition work force has actually declined by 22 percent.  So those were some of the issues that we discussed in addition to what Senator McCain said.
THE PRESIDENT:  Charlie, you're right here in front of -- Kent talked about revenue.  You were participating in the tax reform panel.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  First let me thank you for bringing us together.  The Secretary of Treasury provided a lot of leadership -- (inaudible) -- certainly recognize what (inaudible) -- that we do something.  (Inaudible) -- thought of the tax structure, people thought it was relatively easy to dramatically reduce the rates that make us internationally competitive.  The problems, of course, was the different views they have in how you handle the individual raise.
I don't think there's any committee in the House that would be more anxious to bring forth a product, whether it's in health care, tax reform or Social Security, to bring forth something in a bipartisan way.  And I think this is a dramatic first step to see where we're going.  As I said, I don't want to seem to be corny, but it would appear as though that if America recognized the crisis, that they're not looking for a Democratic or Republican solution.  And in order for us to be politically successful, they're going have to believe that it was done in a bipartisan way.
So I think this initiative is a strong first step.  I only hope at the end of the day we can come out, maybe not in total agreement, but certainly in a bipartisan way.
THE PRESIDENT:  Just a quick thought on taxes, Charlie.  My instinct is, is that you're absolutely right that the individual tax rate is always the hardest thing.  There's some philosophical differences between the parties on this and I understand that.
On the corporate side, I at least have always maintained that if we try to think in the same ways that we thought about it in 1986, and if you closed loopholes, you could actually lower rates.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  No question about it.
THE PRESIDENT:  And that's an area where there should be the potential for some bipartisan agreement, because I think, on the books, the rates in the United States are high.  In practice, depending on who it is that you can -- what kind of accountant you can hire, they're not so high.  And that's an area where we can work on.  Simplification, same thing.  I don't think there's anybody out here who thinks that we are making it customer-friendly for the taxpayer.  And that's an area where we can make some great progress.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  Well, if you're looking for a fight and a partisan fight, any loophole you close is a tax increase.  We have to get over that and make certain that the vast majority of businesses recognize it's in their best interest to do the right thing as relates to those who've taken unfair advantage of the government.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you were here in '86 -- it's been done before.  We might be able to get it done this time.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  Well, under your leadership, I'm looking forward to it.  (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT:  Eric, you got some thoughts?
REPRESENTATIVE CANTOR:  Mr. President, I want to thank you very much for having us.  It's a great opportunity I think for us to really come together on some of these very, very big issues.
You said before when we were in discussions on the stimulus debate that we're going to have some very tough choices to make.  And we look forward to your address tomorrow night and working through some of these very big issues, as well as trying to address what's on Secretary Geithner's plate in the immediate, as far as the bank fix, the housing fix and others.  Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks.
Max, you were on the health care panel, but obviously you've got jurisdiction over everything.  (Laughter.)  I know how the Finance Committee works.  (Laughter.)
SENATOR BAUCUS:  Well, Mr. President, first, all of us are enormously grateful for what you're doing here -- not on the specific issues, but also our fiscal problems.  It needs to be done, and we deeply appreciate you taking this on together.
I'd like to just make a little bit of a pitch, if you will, on health care reform.  I think it's very symbolic and very interesting that the first person you called upon was John McCain.  And that's the approach I think we need to take here generally, and specifically with health care reform.  You had a different view during the campaign on health care reform.  John McCain had a different view during the campaign on health care reform.  Here's an opportunity for us to come up with something that's uniquely American, that's public and private.  And I do believe if we just keep that working-together approach and keep at it -- all opinions, et cetera -- and take advantage of this opportunity where the stars are now aligned as to health care, and we'll get it done.
Because I was very pleased that you called on John first because I think it's this tone that we have to take here to make sure we're working together.  Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Max.
Jim, you got any thoughts on this?
REPRESENTATIVE CLYBURN:  Well, I just wanted to thank you very much, Mr. President, for doing this.  I was thinking when you called on Senator McCain -- I came to this Congress (inaudible), two Democrats and two Republicans.  It is remarkable the things we were able to do in South Carolina with Jim Edwards, (inaudible); Carroll Campbell, John West, Dick Riley -- simply because he started thinking about what we needed to do for the people of our state.
I think that what we're doing here today provides a framework for us to really get some things done for the people of our great nation.  And we can do this.  And I'm so pleased that you've set this tone here today.  And I -- (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT:  Mike, were you in the -- were you in the health care panel?  Do you want to just add some thoughts?
SENATOR ENZI:  Mr. President, I, too, appreciate the effort to bring these people together.  We had both a number of associations, as well as the House and Senate.  One of the things I want to emphasize was the (inaudible) that Senator Baucus pointed out to be bipartisan started at the beginning of the process rather than at the end of the process.  And we do have a task force set up in the Senate that's under Baucus's heading up, that has had several meetings already that brought out the issues that -- all of the issues to be put on the table.  And the words not to use, because there are some words that send us right into (inaudible) and debate --
THE PRESIDENT:  Socialized medicine.  (Laughter and applause.)
PARTICIPANT:  Both sides of the aisle.  (Laughter.)
SENATOR ENZI:   -- and get the principals together, and then talk to the stakeholders and then take them through the regular Senate processes as soon as possible, to do that sort of thing.  Senator Kennedy and I, and Senators Baucus and Grassley were in the pensions debate.  And that took an hour of time on the floor plus two amendments to get that result, because it went through that very difficult process.  So I appreciate you including that.
THE PRESIDENT:  Did we have some representatives from the Chamber of Business participating?
MR. CASTELLANI:  Mr. President, I'm John Castellani --
THE PRESIDENT:  We saw each other the other day.
MR. CASTELLANI:  Yes.  I was in the health care discussion.  And the one thing that we all agreed on was that it is absolutely imperative for both fiscal reasons, as well as personal reasons and competitive reasons, to move forward on health care.  We simply cannot afford as a nation, and we certainly cannot afford as businesses to maintain the status quo, because it is unsustainable.
And I think as Bill pointed out, and has certainly been pointed out by the people that were participating in it all -- the Senators and members -- there are a lot of good ideas out there.  The time is now to put those good ideas down on a piece of legislation and move forward so we have something that delivers quality health care to everybody in this country in a way that everybody can afford.
THE PRESIDENT:  Business leadership I think is going to be critical.  Andy Stern is sitting right to next to you.  Andy, you've been working on this front for a long time.  You got some thoughts?
MR. STERN:  I mean, I just want to say that I am sitting next to John, because he and I and Bill Novelli and others really have built a relationship over a long period of time, because we don't see this as a Democratic problem or a Republican problem -- it's just an American problem.  And it's time to solve it.  And (inaudible) and I and business and labor and others can come together outside the Congress, it really is time for the Congress to get this job done, because the American people need it.
THE PRESIDENT:  Nice scarf, by the way.  (Laughter.)
David Walker.  Where's David?
MR. WALKER:  Mr. President, it's an honor to be here.  Thank you for your leadership.
You touched in your remarks on our balance sheet.  As a former comptroller general of the United States I can tell you we're $11 trillion in the hole on the balance sheet.  And the problem is not the balance sheet, it's off the balance sheet -- $45 trillion in unfunded obligations.
You mentioned in January about the need to achieve a grand bargain involving budget process, Social Security, taxes, health care reform.  You are 110 percent right.  We need to do that.  The question is, how do we do it?  Candidly, I think it's going to take some type of an extraordinary process that engages the American people, that provides for fast-track consideration.  And with your leadership, that can happen.  But that's what it's going to take, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I appreciate that.  And again, when we distribute the notes coming out of these task forces, I want to make sure that people are responding -- both in terms of substance, but also in terms of process, because we're going to need both in order to make some progress on this one.
Q    Mr. President, it was kind of a surprise in the procurement group that was together, we had almost universal recognition that over the last decade or so, we've overdone, in some cases, outsourcing of critical federal requirements, and that means that in many cases we spend more to hire a contractor or a non-federal worker than we would pay to invest in federal workers.
And so there was universal -- Republican, Democrat, House and Senate, even -- (laughter) -- that during this administration we need to assess where we can re-federalize some parts of the workforce, particularly when it came to people who do get procurement and oversee the procurement.
Also, that we do have a system which is disadvantageous to someone remaining in the federal workforce.  Our retirement system pays you less and less the longer you stay.  Yours is (inaudible), by the way, one day when you get your retirement.  (Laughter.)  But the accrual system in fact causes people to leave the federal workforce to double-dip, rather than being encouraged, either during their working time or if we ask them to stay on past their retirement.
So those areas were areas I think we had good common -- your folks, Janet took a lot of notes, so I think you're going to see that we have areas where our committees could work with you to make those changes.  And they are legislative changes that could save us money.
THE PRESIDENT:  Which I think would be terrific.  I mean, that's the kind of stuff -- it's not sexy, but it ends up, over time, making enormous progress.
Anybody else that just wants to -- go ahead.
Q    Thank you.  Thank you, Mr. President.  I just want to bring up that in the health care, we talked a lot about individuals and the systems of health care that we have, and looking for places that we can cut.  But as a community organizer I know that you know that investing in the community -- we look at the models across the world and the models in our country where health care prevails to be the strongest and where people live the longest, it's because they have a community that has -- of support, and a community (inaudible) of health care.
And I think if we look at access issues for those from Native American communities like mine, or rural America or other places that create that access with community support and have the right mid-level service providers and others that can reach to the smaller communities across America.
THE PRESIDENT:  That's important.  Yes, go ahead.
Q    Mr. President, thank you for having us here at the White House.  I'm going to take a little bit different approach.  Senator Baucus mentioned it and Chairman Rangel mentioned it --the need for bipartisanship, and I think the House Republicans have shown that when we're not included in the decision-making, we're disinclined to sign off on the solution.
And it's very easy in the House -- it's set up to get things done quickly if the majority is united -- to forget about the minority.  But if you really want consensus, I would encourage you to encourage the Speaker to have a true open process.  This is a good first step, but if this is all we do, it's a sterile step.
On the other hand, if you really follow up and include everybody in the process, you're more than likely to get a solution that everybody signs off on.  And I have said or stood behind every President since Reagan in this room at bill signing ceremonies that were the result of consensus.  So I commend you for doing this.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think you're making an important point.  And, you know, my response, first of all is, I'm not in Congress so I don't want to interject myself too much into congressional politics.  But I do want to make this point, and I think it's important -- on the one hand, the majority has to be inclusive.  On the other hand, the minority has to be constructive.
And so to the extent that on many of these issues we are able to break out of sort of the rigid day-to-day politics and think long term, then what you should see, I think, is the majority saying, what are your ideas; the minority has got to then come up with those ideas and not just want to blow the thing up.  And I think that on some of these issues, we're going to have some very real differences and, you know, presumably the majority will prevail unless the minority can block it.  But you're just going to have different philosophical approaches to some of these problems.
But on the issue that was just raised here on procurement, on the issues -- some of the issues surrounding health care, the way it cuts isn't even going to be Democratic/Republican.  It's going to be -- you know, there may be regional differences, there may be a whole host of other differences.  And if that's -- if we can stay focused on solving problems, then I will do what I can, through my good offices, to encourage the kind of cooperation you're encouraging.
Way back there, and then I'll -- we'll go right here to Tom, and then -- and then probably that's going to be it, because I think I'm already over time.
Go ahead.
DR. HARTMANN:  Thank you, Mr. President.  Heidi Hartmann, Institute for Women's Policy Research.  I just wanted to point out that in the Social Security group, I think there was a fair amount of concession that, given the demographic trends, we're actually going to need to do some benefit increases for those at the bottom, where we may see poverty increase because we're going to have more older unmarried women, more older minority people.  And there was even, I think, a fair amount of consensus that therefore we will need to see revenue increases going into the system.  So I thought there was a surprising amount of consensus in the Social Security group.
THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Tom.
A PARTICIPANT:  (Inaudible) -- thanks very, very much for bringing us together.
A couple of people have said to me, coming into the meeting, that why is the President continuing to reach out to the minority?  And I think the answer lies in part -- a couple weeks ago the minister in our church gave a sermon that was based on the parable of the sower, the sower of the seeds.  As you may recall, some of the seeds were sown in stony ground and rough ground, and some of the seeds were sown in places that had thorns, some of the seeds were sown in the -- in shallow soil, and nothing much came out of it.  But some of the seeds were sown in fertile soil, and multiplied tons in fold.
I urge you to continue to reach out not just to Democrats in the House and Senate, but to continue to reach out to Republicans in both chambers, as well, because some of that will fall in fertile soil.  And when it does, the minority has a responsibility --
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I will certainly do that, Tom, because I'm just a glutton for punishment.  (Laughter.)  I'm going to keep on talking to Eric Cantor.  Some day, sooner or later, he is going to say, boy, Obama had a good idea.  (Laughter.)  It's going to happen.  You watch, you watch.  (Laughter.)
Well, look, just in closing, again, the sooner everybody can respond to our report coming out of each of these groups, the sooner then we can circulate a summary of everything that happened, and then start speaking with you individually and in groups about moving the process forward.
One last point I want to make, just because I think that from the press perspective, there -- I was reading some of the newspapers today and there was this sense of -- that maybe we were doing a pivot because we had just moved forward on the recovery package, now we're talking about fiscal responsibility; how did those two things match up?
I just want to be very clear about this.  I've said it to the governors this morning and I've said it to my staff in the past:  We chose to move forward on a recovery package because there was a strong sense among the vast majority of economists that if we did not try to fill a $1 trillion-a-year hole in demand, because of the drastic pulling back of businesses and consumers, that the recession would get worse, unemployment would increase, and as a consequence, tax revenues would go down, and the long-term deficit and debt projections would be even higher.  That was the basis for the decision.
It was not ideologically driven.  I have no interest in making government bigger for the sake of it.  I've got more than enough on my plate, as Lindsey knows, between Afghanistan and Iraq and issues of terrorism, that if the private sector was just humming along and we could just make government more efficient and not have to worry about this financial crisis, I would love that.  But that's not the circumstance we find ourselves in.  So I made the best judgment about the need for us to move forward on a recovery package.
There were some differences, significant differences between the parties about this.  I would suggest that if you look at the differences, they amounted to maybe 10, maybe 15 percent of the total package.  There wasn't a lot of argument about countercyclical payments to states to make sure that people had extended unemployment insurance or food stamps.  There wasn't a lot of disagreement about some of the infrastructure that needs to be repaired, and there wasn't a lot of disagreement on the tax cut front -- 15, 20 percent of it, there were some disagreements about.
But the reason I make this point is that if we're going to be successful moving forward, it's important for us to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and our politics.  And the reason that there is no contradiction, from my perspective, in doing the recovery package first but now focusing on the medium and long term, is because our hope is that this economy starts recovering.  We will have taken a hit, in terms of our debt and our deficit.  But as Bob Greenstein said, the recovery package will account for about one-tenth of 1 percent of our long-term debt.  The real problems are the structural deficits and the structural debt that we've been accumulating and all of us are complicit in.
So we've got to get that taken care of.  We would have had to get it taken care of whether or not there was a recession; this just underscores the urgency of it.  And I'm hopeful that we move forward in that spirit in the days and weeks and months to come.
So thank you, everybody.  Appreciate it.  (Applause.)
                             END                    4:43 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________
For Immediate Release                           February 23, 2009
Remarks by the President
in Q&A session
at closing of Fiscal Responsibility Summit
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Room 450
4:04 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Please have a seat.  Well, this says something -- I don't know what -- about all of you, that I hear you really enjoyed this fiscal responsibility summit.  (Laughter.)  I mean, it's a sign of a -- (laughter) -- something.  (Laughter.)  Illness, right.
I understand you guys had great breakout sessions, and my advisors just filled me in on some of the issues that came up.  I want to -- I want to just provide a few opening remarks, and then we'll just open it up for questions and comments.
The idea here was to bring everybody together because it's been a long time since we had this conversation.  And over the last eight years, I think we've seen a continued deterioration in the government's balance sheets.
My sense is that, despite partisan differences, despite regional differences and different priorities, everybody is concerned about the legacy we're leaving to our children.  And the hope was, is that if we had a forum like this to start talking about these issues that it would turn out that there are real opportunities for progress -- there are going to be some areas where we can't make progress -- but that we have more in common that we expect.  And I appreciate that while we may have different opinions, there's a renewed willingness to put some concrete ideas on the table, even on those issues that are politically tough, and that's real progress.
A couple of takeaways that my staff indicated to me.  There was a healthy debate on Social Security, but also a healthy consensus among some participants, including Congressmen Boehner and Hoyer as well as Senator Graham and Senator Durbin, that this was a moment to work in a bipartisan way to make progress on ensuring Americans' retirement security.  And I think one of the things we want to do is to figure out how do we capture that momentum.
Over the longer run, putting America on a sustainable fiscal course will require addressing health care.  That seemed to be an issue that there was a lot of consensus around.  Many of you said what I believe, that the biggest source of our deficits is the rising cost of health care.  It's a challenge that impacts businesses, workers and families alike.  And voices as varied as Senator Alexander, Douglas Holtz-Eakin to Senator Baucus and Senator Dodd and Representative Waxman, all agreed to try to tackle health care this year, which I think that offers extraordinary promise, although peril, as well.
The tax reform discussion underscored clear agreement that the tax process has to be simplified for all Americans.  The task force on the budget process yielded some unanimous agreement that the existing -- existing process wasn't working.  The question is whether we'll have the commitment and discipline to do what we know needs to be done and whether we need to create some new mechanisms to deal with these challenges.
Now, I want to make sure that the conversation doesn't end when we go home today.  We've got a lot of hard choices to make.  We need to build off this afternoon's conversation and work together to forge a consensus. 
So one of the things that I'm hoping to do is that my team, each of whom were taking copious notes during the course of these respective breakout sessions, will issue a report or a summary of the conversation.  It will be distributed to each of the participants in those respective discussions.  We will then ask for concrete ideas, either about substance or process, and we will ask that you get those back so that we can then issue a final report coming out of this conversation in 30 days.
And we're -- I think somebody just dubbed this the "fiscal sustainability project," so that's as good of a name as any.  And the idea then is, is that there will be a constant loop between the White House and all of you about how we should move forward on this, and hopefully this will start breaking down into some concrete takeaways and tasks.  Some of the recommendations that have been made are already reflected in the budget that we're proposing.  Some new ideas may have arisen that we did not think of and that can be incorporated as the budget process moves forward in Congress.
And so we are very much looking forward to hearing from your ideas, both about process and about substance.  And then we will in 30 days' time be able to come out with a series of recommendations.  In some cases there may be some things that we can do by executive order that don't require legislation, but there seems to be some consensus they are smart things to do.  In other cases, it's going to require a legislative -- some legislative decisions, and we're going to collaborate closely with the relevant chairs and committees that have jurisdiction.
So, with that, let me just stop.  And what I want to do is just get some comments.  A lot of you have been working hard on this, but I'm going to use my presidential prerogative and call on a couple of people first, and then if other people have comments that they want to offer, please raise your hands.
And I'm going to start with John McCain because -- you know, he and I had some good debates about these issues -- (laughter) -- and I mean what I say here, I think John has also been extraordinarily consistent and sincere about these issues and I want to see if, John, you've got some thoughts about where we need to go and some priority areas.  I know you were in procurement, for example, which is an area I know we would like to work on together with you.
SENATOR McCAIN:  Well, thank you, Mr. President, and thank you for doing this.  I think it's very important.  This particular breakout session is -- we had our -- the Secretary of Homeland Security was our leader.  And so I think it was a very fruitful discussion.
Just one area that I wanted to mention that I think consumed a lot of our conversation on procurement was the issue of cost overruns in the Defense Department.  We all know how large the defense budget is.  We all know that the cost overruns -- your helicopter is now going to cost as much as Air Force One.  I don't think that there's any more graphic demonstration of how good ideas have cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money.
So we will -- and I know that you've already made plans to try to curb some of the excesses in procurement.  We really have to do that.  We're going to have to pay for Afghanistan, as you well know, and we're not done in Iraq.  But most importantly, we have to make some tough decisions -- you, Mr. President, have to make some tough decisions about not only what we procure, but how we procure it.
And I thank you for the opportunity and sharing your thoughts with a lot of very smart people.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, John, let me -- this is going to be one of our highest priorities.  By the way, I've already talked to Gates about a thorough review of the helicopter situation.  The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me.  (Laughter.)  Of course, I've never had a helicopter before -- (laughter) -- maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it.  (Laughter.)
But I think it is a -- it is a -- an example of the procurement process gone amuck.  And we're going to have to fix it.  Our hope is, is that you, Senator Levin, and others, can really take some leadership on this.
And one of the promising things is I think Secretary Gates shares our concern and he recognizes that simply adding more and more does not necessarily mean better and better, or safer and more secure.  Those two things are not -- they don't always move in parallel tracks, and we've got to think that through.
Steny, you participated in the Social Security panel.
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  First off, I think that the Social Security section was a very, very productive section.  I think that there's some honest, as you would think, disagreements, but as was indicated earlier, John Boehner, myself in particular, Lindsey Thomas --
THE PRESIDENT:  Lindsey Graham.  I don't know about Lindsey Thomas, but I know Lindsey Graham.  (Laughter.)
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  Lindsey Graham.  (Laughter.)  South Carolina is not Louisiana, right?  I got you.  That'll work.  (Laughter.)  But Lindsey Graham.  Everybody gave some very solid recommendations.  And I think there was in fact a consensus, an understanding of the different perspectives and ways and means to get to an objective was essentially that getting to an objective serves a number of purposes.  Obviously, from a fiscal standpoint it served a purpose, but also in giving both seniors and young people confidence that benefits would be available to them in the short term, and from a young people's standpoint, in the long term.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  If I can --
THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.
REPRESENTATIVE HOYER:  I think your comment that follow-through is going to be essential; that if we come together and have a good discussion, (inaudible) -- a lot of bright people who have some very good information from various, different (inaudible) -- interest groups who represent large constituencies.  If it just stops there, then it won't have been as useful as you want it to be and as the country wants it to be.
THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Speaking of bright people with large constituencies -- Bill Novelli.  Where's Bill?  Is he still here?  There you are.
I know you participated in the health care panel.  Bill, your thoughts on Medicare and the interest of your membership in getting an equitable solution to what is an unsustainable situation.
MR. NOVELLI:  The whole entitlement thing is as you characterized it.  We have a real sustainability problem.  But I think you put the right frame on this, Mr. President, by saying that the path to sustainability is health care reform.  And our group I think had tremendously good ideas.  Most of the policy ideas that we all know and share were on the table today.
There's a lot of hard policy work that's going to have to go on, but I think we have some momentum.  But I think one of the things that also came out of the session was, we need to engage the American people.  Yes, we have to think of them as patients,  we have to think of them as insured or uninsured -- but we also have to think of them as taxpayers and as voters who need to understand what the tradeoffs are, what they might lose, what they might gain.  We can all do that, but nobody could do it as well as you can.  You've got the bully pulpit to really carry your message to the public.
THE PRESIDENT:  I appreciate that.  This is the only area where we had done a little prejudging of what needs to be done.  We have scheduled a health care summit next week.  It's not that I've got summititis here -- (laughter) -- but rather, it's actually exactly the point that you're making, Bill, which is everybody here understands a lot of the tradeoffs involved in health care and that there are no perfect solutions.
But in the sound bite, political culture that we got, it's very hard to communicate that.  And we think that it's very important to have some forums -- and I talked about this during -- way back in the primary campaign, that there is a process that the public can listen to about what these tradeoffs are, because I think that some of us get on our high horse and say we've got the answer to health care.  Well, it turns out that, you know, there are costs involved on the front end even if the benefits accrue in the out years.  There are situations in terms of people, if they've got health insurance, sort of liking what they've got now, they just want it for cheaper.  There are issues in terms of providers and them feeling like they're getting squeezed.
And so making sure that all that stuff is surfaced in public and we're educating the public on some of these issues can be very important if we're going to make progress because -- you know, some of these things will ultimately involve some tough decisions and some tough votes.
So, budget process -- Kent, you participated and I want to get both your views and John Spratt's views on -- I don't know if John is still here; there he is -- on budget process and how you think we're going to need to clean this stuff up.
SENATOR CONRAD:  Well, first of all, thank you for doing this.  I thought it was a terrific start in the White House.  I think Bob Greenstein said it very well when he talked about us being on an unsustainable course -- the debt being the threat, because we've doubled the debt in the last eight years; tripled foreign holdings of the debt -- last year when we went out to finance this debt, 68 percent came from foreign enemies.  So that creates a vulnerability.
How do we address it?  That is the $64,000 question.  And that's what we addressed in our group.  I think it's fair to say there were different views.  Many of us believe it's going to take some special process to bring all of the players together to write a plan so that we see the tradeoffs between what's available for health care reform, which without question is the 800-pound gorilla; Social Security, which also has to be addressed for the long term; and revenue.
Revenue is the thing almost nobody wants to talk about, but I think if we're going to be honest with each other, we better recognize that is part of the solution, as well.  And it's very hard to know what you are going to do with Medicare unless you know what revenue is going to be.  Very hard to know what you're going to do with Social Security without knowing what revenue is going to be.  So somehow we've got to come together around a plan, and of course that depends on presidential leadership, which you certainly provided here today.
THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Thank you.
John.
REPRESENTATIVE SPRATT:  I got a bum leg, Mr. President -- you'll have to excuse me, sir.  Thank you for holding this.
I participated in the 1997 balanced budget negotiations; that was the last time we were at the White House to discuss -- in common, Democrats and Republicans -- some common ground that we could both take up (inaudible) issues.  Thank you for doing this again -- (inaudible).
I would agree with Kent that we agree we need a special process.  We didn't come to final agreement on exactly what that process would be -- would it be a task force or a steering committee within the Congress, or a commission from without Congress?  That's still an issue to be resolved.  But I don't think it's an issue we can't resolve.  And we moved towards discussion of some sort of hybrid of the two.
Clearly that's important.  I think everyone in that room would agree that if we're to succeed at what we're setting out to do, we need a special process that we can -- by which we can accomplish it.  (Inaudible) -- you need to have some assurance that whatever we agree upon can indeed be brought to the floor of each House and brought to a vote.
Many of us think it's too draconian to compare this to the BRAC process where you get an up or down vote, no amendments.  But there needs to be some sort of fast track and special procedure to ensure that whatever the entities come up with it will be viewed and considered.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Jack.
Since I see her right -- sitting right next to you, Susan, you were in the procurement task force?
SENATOR COLLINS:  Yes.
THE PRESIDENT:  Did you have any thoughts on --
SENATOR COLLINS:  Yes.  If you look across the federal government, there are problems in IT contracts no matter where you look.  And one recommendation that our group talked about is establishing some kind of (inaudible) law to apply to IT contracts.
In general, we also talked about the need for more competition in contracts, for justification for a cost-plus contract.  My favorite pet peeve is we don't have enough skilled contracting officers.  We've had an enormous increase in the volume of contracts at a time when the acquisition work force has actually declined by 22 percent.  So those were some of the issues that we discussed in addition to what Senator McCain said.
THE PRESIDENT:  Charlie, you're right here in front of -- Kent talked about revenue.  You were participating in the tax reform panel.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  First let me thank you for bringing us together.  The Secretary of Treasury provided a lot of leadership -- (inaudible) -- certainly recognize what (inaudible) -- that we do something.  (Inaudible) -- thought of the tax structure, people thought it was relatively easy to dramatically reduce the rates that make us internationally competitive.  The problems, of course, was the different views they have in how you handle the individual raise.
I don't think there's any committee in the House that would be more anxious to bring forth a product, whether it's in health care, tax reform or Social Security, to bring forth something in a bipartisan way.  And I think this is a dramatic first step to see where we're going.  As I said, I don't want to seem to be corny, but it would appear as though that if America recognized the crisis, that they're not looking for a Democratic or Republican solution.  And in order for us to be politically successful, they're going have to believe that it was done in a bipartisan way.
So I think this initiative is a strong first step.  I only hope at the end of the day we can come out, maybe not in total agreement, but certainly in a bipartisan way.
THE PRESIDENT:  Just a quick thought on taxes, Charlie.  My instinct is, is that you're absolutely right that the individual tax rate is always the hardest thing.  There's some philosophical differences between the parties on this and I understand that.
On the corporate side, I at least have always maintained that if we try to think in the same ways that we thought about it in 1986, and if you closed loopholes, you could actually lower rates.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  No question about it.
THE PRESIDENT:  And that's an area where there should be the potential for some bipartisan agreement, because I think, on the books, the rates in the United States are high.  In practice, depending on who it is that you can -- what kind of accountant you can hire, they're not so high.  And that's an area where we can work on.  Simplification, same thing.  I don't think there's anybody out here who thinks that we are making it customer-friendly for the taxpayer.  And that's an area where we can make some great progress.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  Well, if you're looking for a fight and a partisan fight, any loophole you close is a tax increase.  We have to get over that and make certain that the vast majority of businesses recognize it's in their best interest to do the right thing as relates to those who've taken unfair advantage of the government.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you were here in '86 -- it's been done before.  We might be able to get it done this time.
REPRESENTATIVE RANGEL:  Well, under your leadership, I'm looking forward to it.  (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT:  Eric, you got some thoughts?
REPRESENTATIVE CANTOR:  Mr. President, I want to thank you very much for having us.  It's a great opportunity I think for us to really come together on some of these very, very big issues.
You said before when we were in discussions on the stimulus debate that we're going to have some very tough choices to make.  And we look forward to your address tomorrow night and working through some of these very big issues, as well as trying to address what's on Secretary Geithner's plate in the immediate, as far as the bank fix, the housing fix and others.  Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thanks.
Max, you were on the health care panel, but obviously you've got jurisdiction over everything.  (Laughter.)  I know how the Finance Committee works.  (Laughter.)
SENATOR BAUCUS:  Well, Mr. President, first, all of us are enormously grateful for what you're doing here -- not on the specific issues, but also our fiscal problems.  It needs to be done, and we deeply appreciate you taking this on together.
I'd like to just make a little bit of a pitch, if you will, on health care reform.  I think it's very symbolic and very interesting that the first person you called upon was John McCain.  And that's the approach I think we need to take here generally, and specifically with health care reform.  You had a different view during the campaign on health care reform.  John McCain had a different view during the campaign on health care reform.  Here's an opportunity for us to come up with something that's uniquely American, that's public and private.  And I do believe if we just keep that working-together approach and keep at it -- all opinions, et cetera -- and take advantage of this opportunity where the stars are now aligned as to health care, and we'll get it done.
Because I was very pleased that you called on John first because I think it's this tone that we have to take here to make sure we're working together.  Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Max.
Jim, you got any thoughts on this?
REPRESENTATIVE CLYBURN:  Well, I just wanted to thank you very much, Mr. President, for doing this.  I was thinking when you called on Senator McCain -- I came to this Congress (inaudible), two Democrats and two Republicans.  It is remarkable the things we were able to do in South Carolina with Jim Edwards, (inaudible); Carroll Campbell, John West, Dick Riley -- simply because he started thinking about what we needed to do for the people of our state.
I think that what we're doing here today provides a framework for us to really get some things done for the people of our great nation.  And we can do this.  And I'm so pleased that you've set this tone here today.  And I -- (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT:  Mike, were you in the -- were you in the health care panel?  Do you want to just add some thoughts?
SENATOR ENZI:  Mr. President, I, too, appreciate the effort to bring these people together.  We had both a number of associations, as well as the House and Senate.  One of the things I want to emphasize was the (inaudible) that Senator Baucus pointed out to be bipartisan started at the beginning of the process rather than at the end of the process.  And we do have a task force set up in the Senate that's under Baucus's heading up, that has had several meetings already that brought out the issues that -- all of the issues to be put on the table.  And the words not to use, because there are some words that send us right into (inaudible) and debate --
THE PRESIDENT:  Socialized medicine.  (Laughter and applause.)
PARTICIPANT:  Both sides of the aisle.  (Laughter.)
SENATOR ENZI:   -- and get the principals together, and then talk to the stakeholders and then take them through the regular Senate processes as soon as possible, to do that sort of thing.  Senator Kennedy and I, and Senators Baucus and Grassley were in the pensions debate.  And that took an hour of time on the floor plus two amendments to get that result, because it went through that very difficult process.  So I appreciate you including that.
THE PRESIDENT:  Did we have some representatives from the Chamber of Business participating?
MR. CASTELLANI:  Mr. President, I'm John Castellani --
THE PRESIDENT:  We saw each other the other day.
MR. CASTELLANI:  Yes.  I was in the health care discussion.  And the one thing that we all agreed on was that it is absolutely imperative for both fiscal reasons, as well as personal reasons and competitive reasons, to move forward on health care.  We simply cannot afford as a nation, and we certainly cannot afford as businesses to maintain the status quo, because it is unsustainable.
And I think as Bill pointed out, and has certainly been pointed out by the people that were participating in it all -- the Senators and members -- there are a lot of good ideas out there.  The time is now to put those good ideas down on a piece of legislation and move forward so we have something that delivers quality health care to everybody in this country in a way that everybody can afford.
THE PRESIDENT:  Business leadership I think is going to be critical.  Andy Stern is sitting right to next to you.  Andy, you've been working on this front for a long time.  You got some thoughts?
MR. STERN:  I mean, I just want to say that I am sitting next to John, because he and I and Bill Novelli and others really have built a relationship over a long period of time, because we don't see this as a Democratic problem or a Republican problem -- it's just an American problem.  And it's time to solve it.  And (inaudible) and I and business and labor and others can come together outside the Congress, it really is time for the Congress to get this job done, because the American people need it.
THE PRESIDENT:  Nice scarf, by the way.  (Laughter.)
David Walker.  Where's David?
MR. WALKER:  Mr. President, it's an honor to be here.  Thank you for your leadership.
You touched in your remarks on our balance sheet.  As a former comptroller general of the United States I can tell you we're $11 trillion in the hole on the balance sheet.  And the problem is not the balance sheet, it's off the balance sheet -- $45 trillion in unfunded obligations.
You mentioned in January about the need to achieve a grand bargain involving budget process, Social Security, taxes, health care reform.  You are 110 percent right.  We need to do that.  The question is, how do we do it?  Candidly, I think it's going to take some type of an extraordinary process that engages the American people, that provides for fast-track consideration.  And with your leadership, that can happen.  But that's what it's going to take, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I appreciate that.  And again, when we distribute the notes coming out of these task forces, I want to make sure that people are responding -- both in terms of substance, but also in terms of process, because we're going to need both in order to make some progress on this one.
Q    Mr. President, it was kind of a surprise in the procurement group that was together, we had almost universal recognition that over the last decade or so, we've overdone, in some cases, outsourcing of critical federal requirements, and that means that in many cases we spend more to hire a contractor or a non-federal worker than we would pay to invest in federal workers.
And so there was universal -- Republican, Democrat, House and Senate, even -- (laughter) -- that during this administration we need to assess where we can re-federalize some parts of the workforce, particularly when it came to people who do get procurement and oversee the procurement.
Also, that we do have a system which is disadvantageous to someone remaining in the federal workforce.  Our retirement system pays you less and less the longer you stay.  Yours is (inaudible), by the way, one day when you get your retirement.  (Laughter.)  But the accrual system in fact causes people to leave the federal workforce to double-dip, rather than being encouraged, either during their working time or if we ask them to stay on past their retirement.
So those areas were areas I think we had good common -- your folks, Janet took a lot of notes, so I think you're going to see that we have areas where our committees could work with you to make those changes.  And they are legislative changes that could save us money.
THE PRESIDENT:  Which I think would be terrific.  I mean, that's the kind of stuff -- it's not sexy, but it ends up, over time, making enormous progress.
Anybody else that just wants to -- go ahead.
Q    Thank you.  Thank you, Mr. President.  I just want to bring up that in the health care, we talked a lot about individuals and the systems of health care that we have, and looking for places that we can cut.  But as a community organizer I know that you know that investing in the community -- we look at the models across the world and the models in our country where health care prevails to be the strongest and where people live the longest, it's because they have a community that has -- of support, and a community (inaudible) of health care.
And I think if we look at access issues for those from Native American communities like mine, or rural America or other places that create that access with community support and have the right mid-level service providers and others that can reach to the smaller communities across America.
THE PRESIDENT:  That's important.  Yes, go ahead.
Q    Mr. President, thank you for having us here at the White House.  I'm going to take a little bit different approach.  Senator Baucus mentioned it and Chairman Rangel mentioned it --the need for bipartisanship, and I think the House Republicans have shown that when we're not included in the decision-making, we're disinclined to sign off on the solution.
And it's very easy in the House -- it's set up to get things done quickly if the majority is united -- to forget about the minority.  But if you really want consensus, I would encourage you to encourage the Speaker to have a true open process.  This is a good first step, but if this is all we do, it's a sterile step.
On the other hand, if you really follow up and include everybody in the process, you're more than likely to get a solution that everybody signs off on.  And I have said or stood behind every President since Reagan in this room at bill signing ceremonies that were the result of consensus.  So I commend you for doing this.
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think you're making an important point.  And, you know, my response, first of all is, I'm not in Congress so I don't want to interject myself too much into congressional politics.  But I do want to make this point, and I think it's important -- on the one hand, the majority has to be inclusive.  On the other hand, the minority has to be constructive.
And so to the extent that on many of these issues we are able to break out of sort of the rigid day-to-day politics and think long term, then what you should see, I think, is the majority saying, what are your ideas; the minority has got to then come up with those ideas and not just want to blow the thing up.  And I think that on some of these issues, we're going to have some very real differences and, you know, presumably the majority will prevail unless the minority can block it.  But you're just going to have different philosophical approaches to some of these problems.
But on the issue that was just raised here on procurement, on the issues -- some of the issues surrounding health care, the way it cuts isn't even going to be Democratic/Republican.  It's going to be -- you know, there may be regional differences, there may be a whole host of other differences.  And if that's -- if we can stay focused on solving problems, then I will do what I can, through my good offices, to encourage the kind of cooperation you're encouraging.
Way back there, and then I'll -- we'll go right here to Tom, and then -- and then probably that's going to be it, because I think I'm already over time.
Go ahead.
DR. HARTMANN:  Thank you, Mr. President.  Heidi Hartmann, Institute for Women's Policy Research.  I just wanted to point out that in the Social Security group, I think there was a fair amount of concession that, given the demographic trends, we're actually going to need to do some benefit increases for those at the bottom, where we may see poverty increase because we're going to have more older unmarried women, more older minority people.  And there was even, I think, a fair amount of consensus that therefore we will need to see revenue increases going into the system.  So I thought there was a surprising amount of consensus in the Social Security group.
THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Tom.
A PARTICIPANT:  (Inaudible) -- thanks very, very much for bringing us together.
A couple of people have said to me, coming into the meeting, that why is the President continuing to reach out to the minority?  And I think the answer lies in part -- a couple weeks ago the minister in our church gave a sermon that was based on the parable of the sower, the sower of the seeds.  As you may recall, some of the seeds were sown in stony ground and rough ground, and some of the seeds were sown in places that had thorns, some of the seeds were sown in the -- in shallow soil, and nothing much came out of it.  But some of the seeds were sown in fertile soil, and multiplied tons in fold.
I urge you to continue to reach out not just to Democrats in the House and Senate, but to continue to reach out to Republicans in both chambers, as well, because some of that will fall in fertile soil.  And when it does, the minority has a responsibility --
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I will certainly do that, Tom, because I'm just a glutton for punishment.  (Laughter.)  I'm going to keep on talking to Eric Cantor.  Some day, sooner or later, he is going to say, boy, Obama had a good idea.  (Laughter.)  It's going to happen.  You watch, you watch.  (Laughter.)
Well, look, just in closing, again, the sooner everybody can respond to our report coming out of each of these groups, the sooner then we can circulate a summary of everything that happened, and then start speaking with you individually and in groups about moving the process forward.
One last point I want to make, just because I think that from the press perspective, there -- I was reading some of the newspapers today and there was this sense of -- that maybe we were doing a pivot because we had just moved forward on the recovery package, now we're talking about fiscal responsibility; how did those two things match up?
I just want to be very clear about this.  I've said it to the governors this morning and I've said it to my staff in the past:  We chose to move forward on a recovery package because there was a strong sense among the vast majority of economists that if we did not try to fill a $1 trillion-a-year hole in demand, because of the drastic pulling back of businesses and consumers, that the recession would get worse, unemployment would increase, and as a consequence, tax revenues would go down, and the long-term deficit and debt projections would be even higher.  That was the basis for the decision.
It was not ideologically driven.  I have no interest in making government bigger for the sake of it.  I've got more than enough on my plate, as Lindsey knows, between Afghanistan and Iraq and issues of terrorism, that if the private sector was just humming along and we could just make government more efficient and not have to worry about this financial crisis, I would love that.  But that's not the circumstance we find ourselves in.  So I made the best judgment about the need for us to move forward on a recovery package.
There were some differences, significant differences between the parties about this.  I would suggest that if you look at the differences, they amounted to maybe 10, maybe 15 percent of the total package.  There wasn't a lot of argument about countercyclical payments to states to make sure that people had extended unemployment insurance or food stamps.  There wasn't a lot of disagreement about some of the infrastructure that needs to be repaired, and there wasn't a lot of disagreement on the tax cut front -- 15, 20 percent of it, there were some disagreements about.
But the reason I make this point is that if we're going to be successful moving forward, it's important for us to distinguish between legitimate policy differences and our politics.  And the reason that there is no contradiction, from my perspective, in doing the recovery package first but now focusing on the medium and long term, is because our hope is that this economy starts recovering.  We will have taken a hit, in terms of our debt and our deficit.  But as Bob Greenstein said, the recovery package will account for about one-tenth of 1 percent of our long-term debt.  The real problems are the structural deficits and the structural debt that we've been accumulating and all of us are complicit in.
So we've got to get that taken care of.  We would have had to get it taken care of whether or not there was a recession; this just underscores the urgency of it.  And I'm hopeful that we move forward in that spirit in the days and weeks and months to come.
So thank you, everybody.  Appreciate it.  (Applause.)
                             END                    4:43 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE

 Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                           February 23, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT OPENING OF FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY SUMMIT
East Room

1:03 P.M. EST
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Mr. President, I want to begin by thanking all of you for being here today.  Represented in this room -- with notable exception is some of my old friends -- what's represented here in this room are the finest minds in the country, representing a wide range of views across the political, ideological and academic spectrum.  And today we're asking you to help us begin to tackle the challenges of our nation's long-term fiscal situation.
We explore -- we are going to explore how we got where we are and begin to debate where we need to head.  We hope this summit will generate a healthy debate, because we truly believe that the best course is -- to arrive at the best answers is to have that debate.  It won't be easy, to state the obvious.
I think we all know that we have inherited unprecedented budget deficits.  And this has made all the more difficult the nearly unprecedented economic challenges the country is facing today.
So the problem will not be solved overnight -- that's news to no one in this room.  But we want to be clear:  As we take the steps that we must to get through the crisis we're in now, we will not lose sight of the long term.  We will not lose sight of the need to tackle unmet needs for health care reform, to deal with the energy policy that we need, and so many other challenges that are going to determine what the 21st century looks like.  We must be direct with the American people about the budget difficulties and the choices we have to make.  And we should be straightforward with them throughout this whole process.
I have always believed that in the toughest moments we are presented with the greatest opportunities as a nation.  There's no question this is a very tough moment.  But it's also a real opportunity to both put our economy back on track and restore fiscal responsibility -- and that's why we need all of you.
Our first speaker will be Dr. Mark Zandi.  Dr. Zandi is the chief economist and cofounder of Moody's Economic -- excuse me -- Moody's Economy.com, where he directs the company's research and consulting activities.  He's one of the best big picture guys in the business.  His most recent book, "Financial Shock," was widely praised for its lucid explanation of the housing bust.  What's less well known about Mark is that he donated the royalties from that book to a fund to invest in low-wealth neighborhoods.  He was also an economic advisor to John McCain's campaign.  And I'm glad he's here with us today.
Following Mark will be Robert Greenstein, founder and executive director of the invaluable Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  Bob and the Center are very well known to us, as they have been the go-to resource for consistently reliable analysis on matters of budgets and fiscal policy at every level of government.  Bob was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in 1996, and last year he received both the John W. Gardner Award for independence -- from Independent Sector and Heinz Award for Public Policy in recognition of his work to improve the economic outlook for many Americans -- of many of America's poorer citizens.
And as I understand it, we're going to -- I'm now turning the program over to Mark, if I'm not mistaken.  Mark, welcome.  (Applause.)
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  Please, have a seat.  Thank you very much.  Thank you to Mark and Bob and to Peter.  It is wonderful to see the Speaker here.  And we've got our -- I don't see Harry here, but we've got Dick Durbin in his stead.  Mitch, thank you for being here.  John Boehner, to all the congressional leadership, thank you.
My administration came into office one month ago in the depths of an economic crisis unlike any that we've seen in generations.  And we recognized that we needed to act boldly, decisively and quickly -- and that is precisely what we did.
Within our first 30 days in office, we passed the most sweeping economic recovery package in history to create or save 3.5 million new jobs, provide relief to struggling families, and lay the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.  And I had an opportunity to talk to the nation's governors today -- both Republicans and Democrats have ideas about how they are going to use that money to make sure that people are put back to work and that we can stem some of the job loss that's taking place.
I also laid out my housing plan to break the cycle of falling home values and rising foreclosures that has devastated so many communities.  And we put forth a Financial Stability Plan to start shoring up our banks, so we can free up credit and jumpstart lending and restore confidence in our financial system.
These are all extraordinary -- but necessary -- measures to address this economic emergency, and as has already been noted, they will come at a cost.  This administration has inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit -- the largest in our nation's history -- and our investments to rescue our economy will add to that deficit in the short term.  We also have long-term challenges -- health care, energy, education and others -- that we can no longer afford to ignore.
But I want to be very clear, if the message was not effectively delivered by the three previous speakers:  We cannot, and will not, sustain deficits like these without end.  Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration, or the next generation.
We are paying the price for these deficits right now.  In 2008 alone, we paid $250 billion in interest on our debt -- one in every 10 taxpayer dollars.  That is more than three times what we spent on education that year; more than seven times what we spent on VA health care.
So if we confront this crisis without also confronting the deficits that helped cause it, we risk sinking into another crisis down the road as our interest payments rise, our obligations come due, confidence in our economy erodes, and our children and our grandchildren are unable to pursue their dreams because they're saddled with our debts.
And that's why today I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office.  This will not be easy.  It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected.  But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay -- and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.
We'll start by being honest with ourselves about the magnitude of our deficits.  For too long, our budget process in Washington has been an exercise in deception -- a series of accounting tricks to hide the extent of our spending and the shortfalls in our revenue and hope that the American people won't notice:  budgeting certain expenditures for just one year, when we know we'll incur them every year for five or 10; budgeting zero dollars for the Iraq war -- zero -- for future years, even when we knew the war would continue; budgeting no money for natural disasters, as if we would ever go 12 months without a single flood, fire, hurricane or earthquake.
We do ourselves no favors by hiding the truth about what we spend.  In order to address our fiscal crisis, we're going to have to be candid about its scope.  And that's why the budget I will introduce later this week will look ahead 10 years, and will include a full and honest accounting of the money we plan to spend and the deficits we will likely incur. 
To start reducing these deficits, I've committed to going through our budget line by line to root out waste and inefficiency -- a process that Peter and our administration, our team, has already begun.  And I'll soon be instructing each member of my Cabinet to go through every item in their budgets, as well.  And already we've seen how much money we can save, just in the last 30 days.
Take one example -- the Department of Agriculture has moved some of its training programs online, saving an estimated $1.3 million a year.  They're modernizing their financial management system, saving an estimated $17.5 million.  They're saving tens of thousands of dollars by cutting back on conferences and travel and other small expenses that add up over time.
So we will replicate these efforts throughout the federal government, eliminating programs that don't work to make room for ones that do -- and making the ones that we keep work better.  We'll end the payments to agribusiness that don't need them and eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq.  We'll end the tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas and we'll stop the fraud and abuse in our Medicare program.
And we will reinstate the pay-as-you-go rule that we followed during the 1990s -- the rule that helped us start this new century with a $236 billion surplus.  In recent years, we've strayed from this rule -- and the results speak for themselves.  The pay-go approach is based on a very simple concept:  You don't spend what you don't have.  So if we want to spend, we'll need to find somewhere else to cut.  This is the rule that families across this country follow every single day -- and there's no reason why their government shouldn't do the same.
Now, I want to be very clear:  While we are making important progress towards fiscal responsibility this year in this budget, this is just the beginning.  In the coming years, we'll be forced to make more tough choices and do much more to address our long-term challenges, from the rising cost of health care that Peter described, which is the single most pressing fiscal challenge we face by far, to the long-term solvency of Social Security.
In the end, however, if we want to rebuild our economy and restore discipline and honesty to our budget, we will need to change the way we do business here in Washington.  We're not going to be able to fall back into the same old habits, and make the same inexcusable mistakes:  the repeated failure to act as our economy spiraled deeper into crisis; the casual dishonesty of hiding irresponsible spending with clever accounting tricks; the costly overruns, the fraud and abuse, the endless excuses.  This is exactly what the American people rejected when they went to the polls.
They sent us here to usher in a new era of responsibility in Washington -- to start living within our means again, and being straight with them about where their tax dollars are going, and empowering them with the information they need to hold all of us, their representatives, accountable.
So that's why I have called this summit today, and why I have invited leaders from both sides of the aisle -- because we all have a role to play in this work.  I believe it is time for a frank conversation about the fiscal challenges we face.  They're challenges that concern every single one of us, no matter where we are on this political spectrum.
So today I want to -- I hope that all of you will start talking with each other and exchanging ideas.  I want you to question each other, challenge each other, question me and my team, challenge us, and work together not just to identify problems but to identify solutions.
And that's the purpose of the breakout sessions that are starting right now.  I know that each of you bring a wealth of experience and expertise on a broad range of topics.  I appreciate your willingness to participate in these sessions.  I expect that this process will be engaging and productive, and I look forward to hearing the results when you report back later this afternoon.
So thank you very much, all of you, for participating.  (Applause.)
                           END                     1:32 P.M. EST
For Immediate Release                           February 23, 2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
TO THE NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION
State Dining Room
10:29 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Everybody, please have a seat.
First of all, thanks for not breaking anything last night.  (Laughter.)  Thank you also for waiting until I had left before you started the Congo line.  I don't know whether Rendell was responsible for that -- (laughter) -- but I hear it was quite a spectacle.  Michelle and I just had a wonderful time last night and I hope all of you enjoyed it.  It was a great kick-off of what we hope will be an atmosphere here in the White House that is welcoming and that reminds everybody that this is the people's house.  We are just temporary occupants.  This is a place that belongs to the American people and we want to make sure that everybody understands it's open.
Almost three months ago, we came together in Philadelphia to listen to one another, to share ideas, and to try to push some of our ideology rigidity aside to formulate a recovery plan that would bring some relief to your states and to the American people.
And I want to thank so many of you who were active throughout this process to get the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act done.  I don't want to single out too many folks, but Governor Rendell, Governor Douglas, worked tirelessly.  We had people like Governor Patrick and Governor Schweitzer, Schwarzenegger, Crist, who were out there consistently promoting the plan.  And as a consequence we got this passed through Congress in record time.
Because of what we did together, this plan will save or create at least 3.5 million jobs in every state across the country.  It will keep your police officers on the beat, your firefighters on the job, your teachers in the classroom.  It will provide expanded unemployment insurance and protect health care for your residents who have been laid off.  And beginning April 1st, it will put more money back into the pockets of 95 percent of your working families.
So this plan will ensure that you don't need to make cuts to essential services that Americans rely on now more than ever.  And to show you we're serious about putting this recovery plan into action swiftly, I'm announcing today that this Wednesday, our administration will begin distributing more than $15 billion in federal assistance under the Recovery Act to help you cover the costs of your Medicaid programs -- I know something that is going to be of great relief to many of you.
That means that by the time most of you get home; money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health care coverage.  (Applause.)  Children with asthma will be able to breathe easier, seniors won't need to fear losing their doctors, and pregnant women with limited means won't have to worry about the health of their babies.  So let me be clear, though:  This is not a blank check.  I know you've heard this repeatedly over the last few days, but I want to reiterate it:  These funds are intended to go directly towards helping struggling Americans keep their health coverage, we want to make sure that's what's happening and we're going to work with you closely to make sure that this money is spent the way it's supposed to.
We will get the rest of this plan moving to put Americans to work doing the work America needs done, making an immediate impact while laying the foundation for our lasting growth and prosperity.
These are the steps we're taking to help you turn this crisis into opportunity and pave the way for future prosperity.  But I know that many of you, rather than wait for Washington, have already made your states.  You are innovators and much of the work that you've done has already made a lasting impact and change in people's lives.  Instead of debating the existence of climate change, governors like the seven of you of you working together in the western climate initiative, and the 10 of you who are working together on the regional greenhouse gas initiative are leading the way in environmental and energy policy.  Instead of waiting around for the jobs of the future, governors like Governor Gregoire and Governor Granholm have sparked the creation of cutting-edge companies and tens of thousands of new green jobs.  And instead of passing the buck on accountability and efficiency, governors like Martin O'Malley and Governor Kaine, have revolutionized performance management systems, showing the American people precisely how their governments are working for them.
The point that I made yesterday, or last night, is something that I want to reiterate, though.  You shouldn't be succeeding despite Washington; you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington, and that's what we intend to give you in this administration.  In return, we'll expect a lot from you as the hard work of making the recovery plan's promise a reality begins.
And that's why I'm announcing today that I'm asking my Vice President, Joe Biden, to oversee our administration's implementation efforts.  Beginning this week, Joe will meet regularly with key members of my Cabinet to make sure our efforts are not just swift, but also efficient and effective.  Joe is also going to work closely with you, our nation's governors, as well as our mayors and everyone else involved in this effort, to keep things on track.  And the fact that I'm asking my Vice President to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and our future to get this right, and I thank him for his willingness to take on this critical task.  (Applause.)
In the coming weeks, we're also going to appoint some of the nation's best managers and public officials to work with the Vice President on this effort.  And I'm pleased to make the first of those announcements today with the appointment of Earl Devaney as the chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board.  Where did Earl go?  There he is.  Stand up, Earl, so everybody can see you.  (Applause.)
For nearly a decade as Inspector General at the Interior Department, Earl has doggedly pursued waste, fraud and mismanagement.  He has the reputation of being one of the best IGs that we have in this town.  And Joe and I can't think of a more tenacious and efficient guardian of the hard-earned tax dollars the American people have entrusted us to wisely invest.  I pointed out just when I saw him -- he looks like an inspector there -- (laughter) -- he's tough, you know, he barely cracks a smile.  Earl is here with us today.  I thank him for his willingness to take on this difficult new assignment.
And I expect each of you to approach implementation of this recovery plan with the same seriousness of purpose and the same sense of accountability -- because the American people are watching.  They need this plan to work.  And they expect to see their money spent in its intended purpose.
And that's why we've created recovery.gov -- a web site so that every American can go online to see how their money is spent, and hold their federal, state, and local officials to the high standards that they expect.  And I want to applaud Governors Kaine, Patrick, and Strickland for already having created their own recovery implementation web sites to allow for the monitoring and accountability at the local level.  I encourage every one of you to follow suit.
Let me be clear:  We cannot tolerate business as usual -- not in Washington, but also not in our state capitals.  With Mr. Devaney's leadership, we will use the new tools that the recovery act gives us to watch the taxpayers' money with more rigor and transparency than ever.
If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will put a stop to it.  But I want everybody here to be on notice that if a state government does the same, then I will call them out on it, and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it.
We are addressing the greatest economic crisis we have seen in decades by investing unprecedented amounts of the American people's hard-earned money.  And with that comes an unprecedented obligation to do so wisely, free from politics and personal agendas.  And on this I will not compromise or tolerate shortcuts.  The American people are looking to us for leadership, and it falls on us now to reward their faith and build a better future for our country.  And I have every confidence that we can all do this.
Let me make one last point and then I'm going to bring Joe up.  There has been some healthy debate over the last few weeks, last few days, about this stimulus package, even among the governors.  And I think that's a healthy debate.  And that keeps me on my toes.  It keeps our administration on our toes.  But I just want us to not lose perspective of the fact that most of the things that have been the topic of argument over the last several days amount to a fraction of the overall stimulus package.  This sometimes gets lost in the cable chatter.
For example, I think there are some very legitimate concerns on the part of some about the sustainability of expanding unemployment insurance.  What hasn't been noted is, is that that is $7 billion of a $787 billion program.  And it's not even the majority of the expansion of unemployment insurance.  So it is possible for those who are concerned about sustaining a change that increases eligibility for part-time workers to still see the benefit of $30 billion-plus that is going even if you don't make the change.
So the reason I make that point is, I just want to make sure that we're having an honest debate and presenting to the American people a fulsome accounting of what is going on in this program.  You know, when I hear people say, well, there's a lot of waste in this program -- well, from my perspective at least, keeping teachers in the classroom is not wasteful.  From my perspective, tax cuts to 95 percent of working families is not wasteful.  From my perspective, providing all of you additional resources to rebuild roads and bridges and levees and dams that will enhance the quality of life of your state but also make it more economically competitive, that's not wasteful.
And so if we agree on 90 percent of the stuff, and we're spending all our time on television arguing about 1, 2, 3 percent of the spending in this thing and somehow it's being characterized in broad brush as wasteful spending, that starts sounding more like politics -- and that's what right now we don't have time to do.
So I will always be open to honest disagreements, and I think there are some legitimate concerns that can be raised on a whole host of these issues.  And you're responsible at the state level, and if the federal government gives you something now, and then two years later it's gone, and people are looking to you and starting to blame you, I don't want to put you in that position.  And so you need to think about how this money is going to be spent wisely.
What I don't want us to do, though, is to just get caught up in the same old stuff that inhibits us from acting effectively and in concert.  There's going to be ample time for campaigns down the road.  Right now we've got to make sure that we're standing up for the American people and putting them back to work.  All right.  (Applause.)
Joe.
THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Mr. President.  Thanks for this assignment.  I look forward to working with all of you.  Earl Devaney is probably the best-known Inspector General we have in the whole operation.  And I think you'll find him very helpful.  And the Cabinet is ready to go to work.  We're ready to work with all of you.  And so, I have a simple message:  Let's get to work, let's make this work.  (Applause.)
                           END                    10:44 A.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the First Lady
________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                       February 22, 2009

DISCUSSION WITH THE FIRST LADY,
SOCIAL SECRETARY DESIREE ROGERS,
EXECUTIVE CHEF CHRIS COMERFORD,
PASTRY CHEF BILL YOSSES
AND STUDENTS FROM L'ACADEMIE DE CUISINE
White House Kitchen

3:58 P.M. EST
MS. ROGERS:  We are so excited to have all of you here.  And welcome to the White House Kitchen.  I don't know that you've ever been in here.  And so we're delighted to have all the students here.  We're delighted to have the First Lady here on the eve of our inaugural dinner.  One of the things that you may not know --
MRS. OBAMA:  Our State Dinner.
MS. ROGERS:  I'm sorry, our State Dinner.
MRS. OBAMA:  We did that.  (Laughter.)
MS. ROGERS:  Our State Dinner.
MRS. OBAMA:  Our Governors’ Ball Dinner.
MS. ROGERS:  Our Governors’ Ball Dinner.  So we've got representatives from most of the states that are going to be here tonight.  And what you may not know is how much planning goes into a meal, and -- from the linens to the flowers.  One of the things that -- you know, certainly any meal in the White House is historical, but this being the first State Dinner for President Obama and Mrs. Obama is particularly important for us.
So we've tried to celebrate not only democracy, but really try to intertwine many of the Presidents, through the selections of their china.  So for one of the first times, we've mixed china.  In addition to that, you'll hear more about the menu.  You'll see that the chefs have selected many of the vegetables and the meats from across the country, as well as the wines.  And so we are really excited about what is going to occur tonight, and particularly excited that the culinary students are here to really be able to share and interface with the staff here.  Maybe one day you guys might wind up being a White House Chef.  (Laughter.)
And so we've got 130 people coming tonight to eat in the State Room.  And then the President and Mrs. Obama will invite them to hear the Marine Corps Band.  And then of course one of the American legends, a band I really love, Earth Wind and Fire, is going to be here.  (Laughter.)  So with no further adieu, Mrs. Obama.
MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you, Desiree.  Well, welcome everybody.  This is an exciting day for me, for all of us.  It's my first official dinner, and I've got with me Cris Comerford, the Executive Chef, as well as Bill Yosses, who is the head of our pastry division.  This is so exciting, and I want to just welcome all of the students from L'Academie de Cuisine.  You guys are the top students, so we are so excited to have you here.  This is going to be a fun day for us.  We're going to have good food, we're going to have good music, so we're very excited.
But I am also very excited about the food here at the White House, because one of the things that I was most excited about when I came in was to find that there are so many great professionals here.  This is where the magic happens.  No one would expect that all that comes out of these dinners happens in this little bitty space, but we have some of the best talent here.
And one of the things that we wanted to do during our time in the White House is to showcase some of this talent.  And that's why we have Cris and Bill here, as well, as you can see, the rest of the crew working away to make this evening just fabulous.
I can tell you firsthand that this meal is going to be awesome, because I had an opportunity to do some tasting, along with Desiree and my mom.  We had a wonderful tasting luncheon, and it was very hard to choose from so many great selections.  But we're going to have just a very good meal.
So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Cris, who's going to talk a little bit about the menu, and then Bill will talk about the desserts.  And again, you guys, welcome.  We hope to have you back again.  And feel free to ask any questions that you'd like.
Cris, take it away.
MS. COMERFORD:  Thank you, Mrs. Obama.  First of all, I want to welcome all of these students in our very big kitchen.  (Laughter.)  As you can see, like with any menu planning, there's a meticulous planning that takes place before even a Governors’ Dinner takes place.  And when we did our brainstorming like a couple weeks back, we took into consideration a lot of things.
And of course the first things we considered are what's seasonal and what is fresh, and of course representing the best of the American spirit.  And you have to make sure -- like we tried to look at the northeastern part and see what's the best thing that they could offer at the season.  And let me just go through each courses, so every course will be explained well to you.
Our first course is Chesapeake crab agnolottis, which are stuffed pasta with sunchoke puree.  I heard a question earlier from one of the press.  They wanted to know what sunchokes is.  A sunchoke is also called Jerusalem artichokes, but they're not really artichokes; they're actually a root that's very reminiscent of potato and –- (inaudible).  So it has a very -- ooh, wow, on cue -- (laughter) -- this is Tafari right here, who is one of my assistant chefs, who did just a wonderful plate that we'll be serving tonight.  These are three agnolottis that are served with the sunchoke puree, a little basil oil.  It's really wonderful.  It's very light and airy, and of course it's Mrs. Obama's favorite.  So thank you, Tafari.
And then next I'm going to talk about our main course, which is the Wagyu beef, or the -- it's actually an American-style Kobe beef.  It's actually a cross-breed of the Kobe and the Angus beef, and actually this particular cattle herd is from central Nebraska.  In these particular feed lots, we would, like, feed the beef like grass feeding; 90 percent of it's live, and towards the last 10 percent, it's given nice, organic whole grains, and some -- you know, just to enhance -- you know, fattening and marbling of the meat.
So as Tommy is putting together a wonderful beef on the side, I'm going to explain to you some of these wonderful carrots.  I'm going to take it away from Franky, who's actually a graduate of your school.  So we have one of your alumni.  (Laughter.)
This is a Red Dragon carrots that is growing in a greenhouse in Huron, Ohio.  So pretty much, as you can see, what connects all of our menu is really trying to use up things that are indicative of this area, but then at the same time, you know, not forgetting that we could get some things that are good -- let's say, for example, in Nebraska -- just like what the beef represents.  So we try to be really very good with using the best of the local products.
And as you can see, what the guys are doing right now is just cleaning it off.  And later on, this kitchen at about, like 5:00 p.m. -- when this press review is over, it's going to be so busy, trying to put together things.  Everything is pretty much prepared and done here.
And this is Tommy, my Executive Sous Chef, who put together this wonderful main course.  And it's of course the Wagyu beef that's served on a carrot puree.  And of course we have some Nantucket sea scallops that are wonderful -- and it's also Mrs. Obama's favorite, so we have to put it in there.
MRS. OBAMA:  The President loves scallops, too.
MS. COMERFORD:  He loves scallops, too.  We won't forget him, either.
MRS. OBAMA:  Don't forget about him.  (Laughter.)
MS. COMERFORD:  And then for the salad tonight, I mean, you want something that's really light and very citrusy, to kind of like finish this course.  It's not, you know, technically heavy, but it's really kind of like -- thank you, Sam.  Sam here has put together a wonderful plate of -- you want to explain what's on this?
MR. KASS:  Sure.  So these are -- we'll start from the bottom up.  On the bottom is watermelon radishes that are grown very close to here.  They're really big and beautiful.  And it's a citrus salad, so we carve our oranges and grapefruit.  And then our lettuces are mixed with ice plants, which grow really well through the winter.  And we have crystal lettuce, and they're very -- basically the same variety of plant, and with Sicilian pistachios that have been lightly candied, and a honey citrus vinaigrette.  So it should be very tasty.
MS. COMERFORD:  Thank you, Sam.
MR. KASS:  You're welcome.
MS. COMERFORD:  And of course you saw all of the three courses.  And of course this course won't mean anything without Bill explaining -- (laughter) -- the dessert.  So I'll pass it on to you.
MR. YOSSES:  Thank you.  Thanks.  The desserts are in the same philosophy as the main courses, in that we like to use regional specialties, natural and unadulterated, whenever possible.  So tonight we're going to be serving a huckleberry cobbler with caramel ice cream.  It's one of the First Family's favorites.
And here's the huckleberries.  They come from Idaho, so I sort of have the West Coast covered.  (Laughter.)  Idaho and Washington state, Oregon, they all specialize in huckleberries.  As you may know, it's a wild product, it's a wild bush that grows on the mountains.  They have not been able to cultivate it yet, though they tried.  Mother Nature seems to want to keep those for herself.
So we are proud to serve this tonight, and happy to have you with us.
MRS. OBAMA:  And we're going to have ice cream, right?
MR. YOSSES:  And ice cream, as well.  (Laughter.)  You've got to have that, yes.
MRS. OBAMA:  Homemade.
MR. YOSSES:  Let me -- in the meantime, I can bring some of these pieces.
For the after-dinner guests, we don't want to forget them, so we brought a little selection of goodies for them, as well.  These are maple truffles; New Orleans pralines -- they seem to be requested quite often -- (laughter); a pear layer cake; these are cheesecake lollipops; this is a huckleberry -- a little version of the huckleberry tart for the after-dinner guests; a meringue; and a raspberry tart; and a passion fruit.
So we're going to bring you some samples, and everybody can try them out.
MRS. OBAMA:  Questions?  Are there any questions?
Let me just say before we open it up, I just want to reiterate just how professional and gracious this staff has been.  I mean, one of the delights of living here is working with everyone here who has just gone above and beyond to make this place feel like a home -- everything from Bill, you know, helping the kids make desserts with friends, to Tommy and the guys making french fries whenever you want.  They can do this, but they can also make a mean batch of french fries -- (laughter) -- when you want it done.
And one of the things we want to highlight, we want the world to know, is that we've got this kind of talent base here; people who are committed not just to our family but to this country, and making the White House not just a home but a place of pride and grace for the nation to see it, for the world to see.  And I am so grateful to Cris and to Bill and to the entire staff for all that they've done.  This dinner is going to be phenomenal, but what makes it special is that every day it feels like home.  So I want to thank them, as well.
So, you guys, any questions that you have.  Feel free.
Q    Yes, could I ask one?
MRS. OBAMA:  Of the students.  It's the students' turn.  (Laughter.)  So jump in.  You'll see you'll get left in the dust -- (laughter) -- if you don't ask a question.  (Laughter.)
Q    Mrs. Obama, what is the typical size of the staff here?  And does that vary, depending on the size of the event that is going on in the house?
MRS. OBAMA:  Well, Cris, you probably have a better sense.  There's the working staff in the kitchen, which, you know -- what's the --
MS. COMERFORD:  It's about seven people, working staff, in the kitchen.  We have two full-time pastry chefs.  And of course during an event like this, we have a good support staff of like chefs from around here, from the Navy Mess, people that we've worked with before that are reputable, talented and really good.
MRS. OBAMA:  So we do a bit of supplementing when it comes to the big events, but not all those people feed us every day.  (Laughter.)
Q    A lot of french fries.
MRS. OBAMA:  Right, right.  (Laughter.)
Q    After the menus have been planned, how long -- how many days ahead do you start to really prepare everything to put together?  How long does it take?
MS. COMERFORD:  Pretty much, like, to prepare something, we actually -- it takes only two days.  But the planning stage is the longest stage, and of course connecting with the growers, with our purveyors, and with our farmers, because for any menu to be successful, those are the key relationships that you have to build.  So pretty much this whole menu is built on American relationships.  It's very, very important.
MRS. OBAMA:  And also, Cris and Bill are very flexible, because they set up a menu, we do the tasting, and we said, oh, we like this with that, and this with the other thing, and we really like the way this tasted.  And then they went away and made all our kooky ideas make sense, from a menu perspective.  So, you know, it takes a lot of talent to be able to take an ordinary taste -- because what we think is good may not work together in a meal, but they manage to make it work every single time.
Don't be afraid.  (Laughter.)  You're in the White House.  Ask whatever you want.
MR. YOSSES:  Now is your chance.
MRS. OBAMA:  And these guys have -- you know, even think of the sort of professional questions that you have.  You know, how do you -- one of the questions I have is how do you become Executive Chef in the White House?
Q    Are you taking interns?  (Laughter.)
Q    I'm looking for a job.  (Laughter.)
MS. COMERFORD:  Actually, the question about are you taking interns, that would be an Admiral Rochon question.  But we do actually -- you know, if there are students who are really good and talented and have the passion to really share your talent with us, I mean we're always open for part-time help in what we call a service-by-agreement.  And this is when you get experience in events like this, like a state function, or let's say like, you know, celebrating a picnic outside.  So we have a lot of repertoire in terms of representing American cuisines.  So any time, if you're interested, just call here.
MR. YOSSES:  Especially during the busy months.  (Laughter.) Yes, send your resumes, because we're always looking for new people, bringing new ideas.  And the students have great ideas, and they're sort of out there; they know what's being talked about and what's being served.  So we'd love to hear from you.
Q    And how do you choose your full-time kitchen staff?  Are these people you've worked with before, that you brought with you here, or --
MS. COMERFORD:  Some people I've worked with before, and once you see a talent, you don't want to let go of it -- (laughter) -- because this -- it's really the team that will make your kitchen successful.  And once you build a good kind of team into that you want, they're the backbones.  I mean, without their help, I mean, all of this would be just -- it's not going to be executed --
Q    The D.C. restaurant scene has grown and become more well written about.  We have a lot of the top-name chefs around in this area, either based here or they have restaurants here.  How much do you partner with people like Michel Richard, or other people from the area, to increase the training and the exposure that the staff here have, in terms of the dishes you prepare?
MS. COMERFORD:  Well, the thing about the chefs -- (inaudible) -- we have such good relationships with the other chefs in the area, so we kind of like, you know, chit-chat a bit, and we visit their places, and we ask questions, so, you know, trying to take some ideas from them, and share your ideas, too -- and that exchange, I mean, you grow as a chef. I mean, there's no such thing as, like, it's my secret recipe; I'm not going to share this.  The best recipe is a recipe that's shared with other chefs.
MR. YOSSES:  That's something that you will learn as you go on.  And you'll know each other over the years, and some of your best ideas come from that interchange.  And we work with -- in the sense that we talk to the chefs in Washington, D.C.  And I think the only thing we like better than talking is eating -- (laughter) -- so hopefully we don't do them at the same time.  (Laughter.)  But we do talk with a lot of the chefs in the area, and exchange ideas.
Q    Do you try to represent different states in most -- in the foods you choose for most menus?  Or is just more specifically --
MS. COMERFORD:  It's not necessarily representing a lot of states, but really representing what the region or area can cover.  So let's say -- I could get, like, the best sunchokes -- like now, they actually grow in Maine, although they grow in Arizona, too.  But why would I, you know, go to Arizona, when I could get it closer to me?  So, in that way, we reduce a lot of different aspects of traveling time and shipping.  So that helps.
Q    What's a normal day like in this kitchen?  Obviously you're preparing for a large event today, but just like a normal, average day in the kitchen?
MS. COMERFORD:  A normal, average day, you know, somebody will open up the kitchen for breakfast and take care of the First Family, because, you know, between Sasha and Malia going to school early in the morning, we have to be up there before they kind of go to the kitchen and sneak in, and make sure everything is prepared and ready for them.
And then somebody else will come in and take care of what needs to be taken care of for lunch, because Mrs. Obama likes to have her lunch a certain way.  And we have -- actually have introduced some dishes that hopefully that she will enjoy for years to come.  (Laughter.)
And then, you know, like -- and then there would be another sous chef coming in to cook dinner for the First Family also.  And then in between that, we have a support staff that we have to feed.  We have, like, events that we have to contend with -- menu-writing, purveying, you know, staffing people.  So it's not just the cooking itself.  It takes a lot of different aspects.
MRS. OBAMA:  Yes.  I mean, the weeks are busy.  I mean, it's not just meals or dinners.  I mean, if we have a reception here, we've got to pass hor d'oeuvres, and the kitchen is handling that.  If we have -- we had 6th and 7th graders here for a concert, and they all got cookies.  Those cookies were freshly baked cookies.  And Bill's shop was on top of it.  And this coming week, we've got a series of things going on, so -- in addition to them making sure that the family's needs are met.
And, you know, we're like any other family.  Kids have breakfast, you got lunches, dinners, and we try to maintain a consistent routine.  But then there's everything else that's going on, on the State Floor, that has to be contended with that sometimes we don't even realize.  You know, we walk down to the reception, and think, oh, these hor d'oeuvres are really good, where did this come from?  (Laughter.)  And Cris was just upstairs making an omelette.  (Laughter.)
Q    Mrs. Obama, what's your -- do you have a favorite thing that, since you've moved in, that the staff here makes?
MRS. OBAMA:  That I like?  You know, there hasn't been anything that I don't like.  There's some mean waffles and grits that are made in the morning -- (laughter) -- that have become a regular staple for some of us.  I don't eat waffles every day.
The soups and salads that Cris has made for lunches -- you know, she will come up with some very interesting light, healthy salads.  And, you know, being able to make a soup that tastes creamy without being creamy, because that's something that we work on -- it's like how do we keep the calories down, but keep the flavors up -- that's also the important thing about natural or local is that you get things that are really, really fresh.
I think, Cris, you made a broccoli soup the other day.
MS. COMERFORD:  It was no cream.
MRS. OBAMA:  It was no cream, and I ate it in my office, and one of my staff members was there, and she started scooping.  She said, what is this?  I said there's no cream in it.  She finished it, by the way.  (Laughter.)
But, you know, that's one of the things that we're talking a lot about, is that, you know, when you grow something yourself and it's close and it's local, oftentimes it tastes really good.  And when you're dealing with kids, for example, you want to get them to try that carrot.  Well, if it tastes like a real carrot and it's really sweet, they're going to think that it's a piece of candy.  So my kids are more inclined to try different vegetables if they're fresh and local and delicious.
So that's a lot of what I've been impressed with, is just the ability of this kitchen to take some creative things.  I think we're also having a spinach tonight that is an amazing spinach.  It's a cream spinach  without cream.  And there is no way you would eat that and not think that it wasn't full of cream and cheese.  But it's -- how did you guys make that?  I think Tommy may have --
MS. COMERFORD:  That's Tommy's creation over there.  It's just basically a sauteed spinach with olive oil and shallots.  And last minute we -- we just whipped spinach puree, so it gives us a very, very light, airy -- but it's very high in vitamins, because pretty much there's not a lot of cooking done.  It's just finishing it so that the vegetables are bright green, so you obtain all of the nutritional value of the spinach and even the flavors.
MRS. OBAMA:  It's delicious.  Sasha still didn't like it.  (Laughter.)  That's the other test.  It's like I think they have another test, because they're feeding kids, and sometimes kids are like, it's green; that bright green color is horrible looking.  (Laughter.)  You know, so they have some interesting challenges just meeting the taste issues of a seven- and a ten-year-old, and making food that's healthy and delicious.  We thought the creamed spinach would work for them -- (laughter) -- but it's really good.
Q    How often do you get shipments of fresh produce in on a weekly basis?
MS. COMERFORD:  Of course, it depends on demand.  And pretty much of course we feed our support staff here every day, and we do not get delivery, per se, because of security issues.  We have purveyors and farmers and growers that we partner with, and pretty much they don't know that it's really coming directly here.  But we have local farms from around the Harrisonburg area, in New Jersey, right here in Maryland, in D.C., that kind of work with us to make sure that whatever we get are secure, and at the same time pretty much naturally grown.
Q    Just to follow up on the point raised by Mrs. Obama earlier, how did you end up here?
MS. COMERFORD:  Ooh.  (Laughter.)  Just a long story.  I don't know, within the context of this press -- (laughter) -- but it's really no such -- I was working at the ANA Hotel as the chef of the fine dining room there.  My friend was working in here.  I wanted to see what's going on at the White House, but not really thinking that eventually this would be the door that's going to be widely open for me.  So I took it.  And it was good.  (Laughter.)
MR. YOSSES:  I had a -- I think it was a small photograph of a dessert in a magazine, and Desiree's predecessor saw it, and they were looking for a Pastry Chef at the time, so she said, would you come down and do a tasting, and, you know, go through that process?  And luckily here I am.  Yes, I'm very happy to be here.
MRS. OBAMA:  The President calls Bill "The Crust Master" -- (laughter) -- because he's a big pie guy, and he has some of the best pies and tarts that come out of this place, and the fillings are just perfection -- which is a problem.  (Laughter.)
MR. YOSSES:  We have an example of one, if you would like.  Speaking of crusts and pies, this is the cobbler from tonight.  And students, please begin.
MRS. OBAMA:  Eat away.
MR. YOSSES:  Don't be shy.
MRS. OBAMA:  And as Desiree said, just so that you know, this is the Truman china, and there is a limited number of them, so -- (laughter.) 
Q    I believe you said you were intent on using various chinas.  But do you have a favorite set of china that you use here, or --
MRS. OBAMA:  I haven't gotten to the point where I have a favorite set.  I mean, they're all beautiful.  This set is -- it's just classic.  And it's really appropriate for an important event like this.  It makes the table just look luscious, in a way.  It doesn't clash with the food, so it's elegant without being too complicated, so you're focused on what the dish looks like, but the plate is still there.  So this was a very simple, approachable but elegant pattern.  And this will probably be one that we use a lot.  But there are so many beautiful patterns to choose from.  We're really lucky.
Q    Are you going to come up with your own, as well?
MRS. OBAMA:  I think so.  I think that's part of the job.  (Laughter.)  How is it?
Q    Very good.
Q    The crust is beautiful.
MRS. OBAMA:  Bill --
Q    Crusty.
MRS. OBAMA:  The "Crust Master."  And we'll have some for the press.  (Laughter.)  They're, like, oh.  I know, it's not fair, it's right there. 
Q    I'm willing to share.
MRS. OBAMA:  You guys, come on in.  This isn't fair. 
MS. ROGERS:  One correction.  This one is not Truman. 
MRS. OBAMA:  Oh, no, it's not Truman.
MS. ROGERS:  It's Wilson.  This plate is Wilson.
MRS. OBAMA:  Okay, thank you, everybody.  I appreciate it.  We appreciate you coming.  Enjoy.
END                                          
4:25 P.M. EST   
 
Pool Report—FL visits D.O.T.
Timothy J. Alberta
Feb. 20, 2008
Washington—First Lady Michelle Obama visited the Department of Transportation Friday, her fifth such visit to a government agency this month, "simply to say thank you."
The massive D.O.T. atrium was packed with employees from top to bottom—people on all seven floors were pressed up against the windows that look down on the hall, camera-phones in hand, hoping to catch a glimpse of the new First Lady.
Flanked by the Department’s 14 longest-serving employees in their respective bureaus, Ms. Obama thanked the enthusiastic crowd for their "many years of dedicated service" but warned "there’s a lot of work to do."
Ms. Obama called the president’s economic stimulus bill "the largest investment in our nations’ infrastructure since the interstate highways were created" and said the plan would "repair and re-build highways, expand access to public transportation, invest in high-speed railways and improve our nations’ airports."
Ms. Obama said that although citizens sometimes take for granted all the hard work that goes into our transportation system, the people who do such work are "the backbone of America" and "not a day goes by that people aren’t affected by the Department of Transportation."
In closing, Ms. Obama said, "Just know that we value you, America values you, and together we can get this country moving again. So thank you—and let’s get to work."
Timothy J. Alberta
Wall Street Journal
Washington, D.C. Bureau
(202) 862-9229
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the First Lady
___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                           February 20, 2009 
REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY
AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
U.S. Department of Transportation
Washington, D.C.
1:36 P.M. EST
MRS. OBAMA:  Okay, you all are fired up in here.  (Applause.)  Is it because you work in this beautiful new building?  It is a gorgeous facility.  I am just honored to be here.  (Applause.)
First, let me thank your Secretary, Secretary LaHood, for that kind introduction.  I also want to thank Vice Admiral Thomas Barrett, the Deputy Secretary, for joining us today.  (Applause.)
As you all know, Secretary LaHood came into the administration after serving in the House of Representatives in my state, Illinois, for 14 years, representing the folks in that state.  So Barack and I can't be more pleased that he's taken on the task here at the Department of Transportation to work to get that money for the economic recovery plan out there, doing good things in the communities.
As you have heard, I have taken on what I think is the fun task of coming to every department in Washington -- (applause) -- because I want to meet my new neighbors -- (applause) -- learn more about the community, get to know our co-workers, every one who's going to be standing side by side with us over this wonderful journey that we're on.  (Applause.)
But it's important as a reminder to let people know that the nation's business is carried out by all of you, dedicated public servants like the folks standing behind me, all of you here, who have devoted their careers, who have been doing this work for decades.  So my job is simple:  I'm here to say thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
There isn't a day that goes by that the work of the Department of Transportation doesn't touch the lives of every single person in America.  You all know that.  Sometimes people forget.  We get to work, we drive our children to school, and to basketball, or to ballet, or to soccer, in my instance, because of the roads and the highways that are entrusted to your care. 
We rely on the airlines, the trains, the buses, that are under your supervision, to reach loved ones and to conduct business in distant places all over this country, because of your work.  We can buy the products that make life comfortable, and conduct the commerce that's the engine of our economy, because of the highways and waterways, and railways that you oversee.  Every day you carry out the business of keeping America moving.  Right?  (Applause.)
And now that President Obama has signed the economic recovery plan into law, you will also help carry out the business of getting our economy moving again, as well.  That's an important job. 
The economic recovery plan is making the largest investment in our nation's infrastructure since the interstate highways were created in the 1950s.  It's time.  It will repair and rebuild highways, expand access to public transportation, which we all need -- (applause) -- invest in high speed rail, which we all need -- (applause) -- and improve our nation's airports.  (Applause.)
Throughout our history, from early railway workers, who laid the first tracks, to the sleeping car porters whose unions became an organized trailblazer in civil rights -- my uncles were Pullman porters -- to the men and women today who manage ports, who drive trucks, and repair roads and bridges, our nation's transportation system has been a vital source of well-paying jobs and a backbone of America's middle class.
So that's why your management, the work that you're doing here in transportation to manage the investments in the economic recovery plan, is so very important.  There is a lot of work to do. 
And we are fortunate to have great leaders like President Obama and Secretary LaHood.  (Applause.)  We are lucky to have such great leadership at a time such as this.  But I say this everywhere I go in every agency I've visited and every agency that I will visit:  Our leaders are only as strong as those who hold them up, all of you.  So that's why I'm here.  (Applause.) 
People across the country are counting on you to keep them safe, to help them live their lives, and to put them back to work.  We are at the beginning of what will be a long and extraordinary journey.  We're going to need each and every one of you.  We're going to need one another, not just here in Washington but across the country.  And Barack and I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the service that you've already committed, for the years that you've worked for administrations, all throughout the history of this fine nation.
I want to thank you for your sacrifice, because many of you who were public servants have been sacrificing every year, sacrificing within your own families, coming to work when it's hard, and working even harder.  So just know that we value you, that America values you, and together we can get this country moving again.
So thank you.  Thank you so much.  And let's get to work.  (Applause.)
END
1:42 P.M. EST  
 
 
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                  February 20, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT MEETING WITH NATION'S MAYORS
East Room
10:36 A.M. EST
 
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all for being here today, and welcome back to the White House. (Applause.) Mr. Mayor, my mayor in the city of Wilmington, Jim Baker -- when I got elected, he assumed that he got an office in the West Wing. (Laughter.) But he has a telephone number that is accessible -- hi, Jim, how are you?
Thank you all for being here. It's great to be with so many -- so many leaders who are literally, to use that shopworn phrase, on the front lines where the economy lives and dies, and where people are struggling, and you have to deal with it every day.
You know, in a long career in politics, there's one overwhelming reason why I never ran for mayor, Richie, it's too hard. (Laughter.) They have got your phone number, and they know where you live, and they come and they use it.
Well, President Obama and I are turning that around. We want you to know you can have our phone number, and you know where we live. (Applause.) And we expect you to use it. Already, we've met with you and the Conference of Mayors over half a dozen times.
Too often in the past, America's cities have been neglected, and our mayors haven't had -- haven't been able to be heard on the questions of national policy. That's a story you all understand and know very well. But we know how important cities are -- 65 percent of our nation's population, as you all know, live in our cities. Our cities are the home of seven out of ten American jobs. And when you're talking about the "knowledge economy jobs," the number rises to eight and ten -- eight out of ten. Cities are vital to our economy, essential to our recovery, and haven't been paid much attention to.
Our economy can never reach, in our view, its full potential if we have people who are living blocks away, but worlds away from the bustling downtowns full of opportunity. Our poor transportation systems don't provide mobility people need to get to the job. Or they aren't enough police or firefighters in communities to keep the communities safe.
And that's why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act President Obama signed this week I think includes unprecedented investment in American cities. (Applause.) Simply stated, that's the commitment made in this law. Now, the hard part in one sense, is up to us. We got to make this work. We got to make it work for our people. We got to make it work for our cities. We got to make work for all our people.
The American people have trusted their government with an unprecedented -- unprecedented level of funding to address the economic emergency we face. In return, we have to prove to them that their dollars are making a difference in their communities. We've already set up a website -– recovery.com [sic] -– which will show where and how the money is being spent. The public can actually go on a web site and see how we're spending this money.
President Obama has been insistent during his campaign, and from the time we won, on accountability and transparency. All of you know, if we don't meet that minimum threshold, the likelihood of the public trusting us to do this kind of thing is going to evaporate very rapidly. Transparency is vital, and effectiveness is paramount. These investments are a huge opportunity -- a huge opportunity to create jobs today, and strengthen our economy for tomorrow.
We've designed this bill to save and create -- save or create over 3 million new jobs. And we'd like to see it do even better than that. And that's where your efforts come in. You are -- you're the ones who know the areas that give us the greatest return on our investment -- you know it better than we do. You're the ones who know -- you're the ones who know which projects will crystallize private investment and even greater growth in your cities. And the world is watching -- the world is watching to see how well this is going to work. And we need your help -- we need your help in making it work, and work quickly and effectively.
As of today, we're one month into this administration -- although I said to the President in the past, it feels like a little longer than that. But we are one month into this administration. And think what the President has already done -- already signed into laws, there's a Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. We've expanded state health insurance -- Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional 4 million children. We put forward -- excuse me -- we put forward a plan to reduce preventable home foreclosures. We've won passage of the largest economic recovery effort since World War II -- in a month -- in a month. (Applause.)
So the results of the President's leadership and your help are already there and clear for everybody to see. But it's been a great privilege to also see how much this President has done behind the scenes to make this happen. I've been here for eight Presidents -- for eight Presidents -- you can tell by my look. (Laughter.) Well, I want to tell you something: The hard choices the President has made, the patient outreach he's done, the firm resolve he's shown -- the results of this work I think speak for themselves. But I'm pleased to speak about the man who made these results happen.
There is so much more to do –- so much more. But already, President Obama has put our nation on the path toward greater recovery -- not only greater recovery, but greater decency, greater fairness, greater opportunity, along with economic recovery. For years, many of us have hoped for such accomplishments. And in just one month, an incredible new President has made this a reality.
So please join me in welcoming the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Please have a seat. Thank you so much. Whenever I have the opportunity to meet with mayors, I think about how I got my start doing what you do each day: working with folks at the local level and doing our best to make a real impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. And that's just another reason why I'm so happy to welcome all of you here today.
I want to offer -- take a little personal prerogative here and welcome my own hometown mayor -- my friend, Rich Daley. (Applause.) His steady leadership has proven again and again that the American city can be a place of boundless opportunity and a source of solutions to our public problems; he has made a deep and lasting difference in the quality of life for millions of Chicagoans. I'm surprised he's still talking to me because I stole Arne Duncan from him -- (laughter) -- but I am confident that he will continue to make great strides.
I see friends from all over the place; some old friends -- not old in years, but people who I've known a long time. My other hometown mayor, Mufi, it's great to see you all the way from Honolulu. I've got Mayor Riley and others who are in attendance; Shirley Franklin doing great work; and Mayor Villaraigosa and Mayor Dellums from -- we've got the California contingent. So I'm grateful to all of you.
And I think all of you understand that we meet at such an urgent time. Last night, I signed an executive order establishing the White House Office of Urban Affairs. (Applause.) I've chosen Adolfo Carrión to be its first director. Adolfo wrote a real success story in the Bronx as borough president, and now he's going to be working with all of you to write our next success stories in cities across the country.
He's going to be responsible for coordinating all federal urban programs, and I've asked him to set up an advisory council with mayors and other urban leaders so that we can develop a new metropolitan strategy based on the lessons you've learned. Now, rebuilding our economies and renewing our cities is going to require a true partnership between mayors and the White House, and that partnership has to begin right now.
Those of you who have traveled great distances to be here come from different parties and philosophies. You govern very different cities, they're made up of different citizenries with different demographic makeups. But today, in the face of our common challenges, you're all hearing the same stories. I know because I'm getting letters from constituents all across the country, in many of your cities.
But you're on the front lines in our communities. You know what happens when folks get laid off, or they lose their homes or their health care, and they turn to the mayor's office for help. And just as your services stretch, your classrooms get crowded, and your streets grow less safe, your budgets shrink. You can't deficit spend, so you face impossible choices: raising taxes; cutting essential services; laying off teachers, firefighters, police officers.
And that's why the recovery plan we put into action this week is so important. It's a plan that will save or create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years; will help those hardest hit by our economic crisis; it will aid state and local governments in hopes you can avoid those excruciating choices.
It provides greater unemployment insurance for nearly 18 million Americans, and protects health care for 7 million who lost their health care along with their jobs. It includes the most progressive tax cuts in our history, spurring job creation and putting money into the pockets of 95 percent of all hardworking families. It invests in what works for our cities by funding programs like the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant and the COPS program, which boost public safety and bring down crime. It rewards responsibility, making sure that if you work hard, you won't have to raise a child below the poverty line.
But what makes this recovery plan so important isn't just the jobs it will create or the immediate help it provides; it's that we are putting Americans to work doing the work America needs done in critical areas that have been neglected for too long. (Applause.) So this plan does more to lay a new foundation for our cities' growth and opportunity than anything Washington has done in generations -- and it will bring real and lasting change for generations to come.
Because we know we can't build our economic future on the transportation and information networks of the past, we're remaking our cities with the largest new investment in our nation's infrastructure since Eisenhower built an Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. Ray LaHood is going to be busy because we're putting 400,000 men and women to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and our bridges, repairing our faulty dams and levees, replacing our aging water and sewer pipes, and rolling out broadband lines to nearly every community in America. (Applause.) We're going to unleash the potential of all our regions by connecting them with world-class transit systems and high-speed rail, making our metropolitan areas more livable and sustainable in the process.
Because we know education is the single best bet we can make to change the odds of our children and our cities, we are making the largest investment in education in our nation's history. It will prevent harmful education cuts and save jobs of tens of thousands of teachers -- 14,000 just in New York City. And it will make a historic investment in early childhood education and upgrade classrooms and libraries and labs across America, so that millions of our children are prepared to compete in the 21st century.
Because we know that spiraling health care costs are crushing families and businesses alike, and straining budgets across government, we're taking the most meaningful steps in years to modernize our health care system. We're going to computerize America's medical records while maintaining rigorous privacy standards, saving billions of dollars and countless lives. We'll focus on prevention, keeping millions of Americans from having to set in the doctor's office in the first place. Taken together with the earlier enactment this month of long-delayed laws to extend health care to millions more children of working families, we've done more in 30 days to advance the cause of health care reform than this country has done in a decade. (Applause.)
And because we know we can't power America's future on energy that's controlled by foreign dictators, we're making an investment that within three years will double the renewable energy output it's taken us 35 years to reach. (Applause.) We'll provide tax credits and loan guarantees to companies that create this energy, allowing them to expand rather than lay people off. We'll fund the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant you conceived, saving our cities and our consumers money. (Applause.) We'll build a bigger, better, smarter electricity grid that delivers clean energy from communities that produce it to the cities that need it.
So these are the steps we're taking to help you turn this crisis into opportunity and bring our cities into the future. Now, Washington can't solve all the problems facing our cities -- and I know you don't expect us to. Instead of waiting for Washington, many of you have already made our cities laboratories of change, coming up with innovative new ways to solve the problems of our time.
One of the great pleasures of running for President was having a chance to see great work on renewable energy in Des Moines or, you know, seeing what kinds of wonderful companies are being created in Seattle, and hearing about some of the urban planning strategies that are taking place in Charleston. So all of you have already taken the ball and run with it, even when you weren't getting help from here. But it won't be bad to get some help because -- (applause.)
You know, instead of debating the existence of climate change, mayors like Greg Nickels in Seattle are leading efforts to make cities greener and more efficient. Instead of just talking about health care, mayors like Gavin Newsom in San Francisco have been ensuring that those in need receive it. Instead of wringing your hands over poverty, you've got Antonio in Los Angeles making relentless efforts to alleviate it.
You shouldn't have to succeed, though, despite Washington; you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington, and that's what you're going to get now. (Applause.)
Now, what is required in return, what I will need from all of you, is unprecedented responsibility and accountability on all of our parts. The American people are watching. They need this plan to work. They expect to see the money that they've earned, that they've worked so hard to earn, spent in its intended purposes without waste, without inefficiency, without fraud.
And that's why I'm assigning a team of managers to ensure that every dollar is spent wisely. And that's why we've created recovery.gov -- so that every American can go online to see how their money is spent, and hold their federal, state, and local officials to the highest standards they expect.
So I want to be clear about this: We cannot tolerate business as usual -- not in Washington, not in our state capitols, not in America's cities and towns. We will use the new tools that the recovery act gives us to watch the taxpayers' money with more rigor and transparency than ever. (Applause.) If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it.
And I want everybody here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it. We have asked for the unprecedented trust of the American people to deal boldly with the greatest economic crisis we've seen in decades and the privilege of investing unprecedented amounts of their hard-earned money to address this crisis. And with that comes unprecedented obligations to spend that money wisely -- free from politics and free from personal agendas.
On this, I will not compromise or tolerate any shortcuts. The American people are looking to us, each of you, as well as myself and Joe and others in our administration, for leadership, and it's up to us to reward their faith.
Now, this plan doesn't mark the end of what we'll do together. It marks the beginning. My administration has outlined plans to stabilize, repair and reform our banking system, to get credit flowing to families and businesses, to stem the spread of foreclosures and keep families in their homes. Together, we will tackle the urban challenges of our time and foster diverse, creative and imaginative economies that bring opportunity to every corner of our cities.
We'll do all this because despite the different backgrounds of the mayors in this room, we all share the same vision for our cities -- vibrant places that provide our children with every chance to learn and to grow, that allow our businesses and workers the best opportunity to innovate and succeed, that let our older Americans live out their best years in the midst of all that metropolitan life can offer.
I know this change is possible. I know because I saw it in all those years ago in neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago, where ordinary Americans came together and worked alongside the mayor's office to forge a better future. I know because I've seen it in cities across this country, where many of you that I had a chance to meet with, I saw how you focused on fresh ideas over stale ideology, and you moved your cities forward. And I know it because I see it in the faces of Americans everywhere who are ready to roll up their sleeves and join in the work of remaking this nation.
So now it falls to us to seize the possibilities of this moment and convert peril into promise; see to it that our cities and our people emerge from this moment stronger than they were before. Starting today, that's what you and I are going to do -- together. And I'm absolutely confident that our people will benefit and people will look back and say that this was a turning point; this was a moment where, in the midst of great crisis, leadership was shown and we created a new platform for success for all Americans in the future.
Thank you so much, everybody. Appreciate it. (Applause.)
END
10:57 A.M. EST