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The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

July 27, 2013

Remarks by the Vice President at Pratt & Whitney, Singapore

Pratt & Whitney -- Eagle Services Asia
Singapore

1:03 P.M. SGT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, Bill, thank you. Thank you very, very much. I had a terrific tour. I don’t know whether or not -- I kind of thought you’d all be in the air by now, because I just powered an A-330. They let me actually do it, put my hand on the throttle as they tested it. That was worth the trip.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s -- this is -- this week, I’ve literally -- I’m on my way to go round the world in nine days, not 80 days, and from Washington to India to Singapore to Hawaii and back home. And I’m traveling with my wife, Jill, my daughter, Ashley, my son-in-law, as well as my team on Air Force Two. And now I want you to know how powerful the image of Pratt & Whitney is. My staff was so certain that Air Force Two was powered by your engine, they wanted me to say at this point, Pratt & Whitney engines keep us in the sky. But it turns out it’s not a Pratt & Whitney engine, but I’m going to make a recommendation when I get back. (Laughter and applause.)

What’s happening here is about more than aircraft engines, more than a strong partnership between the United States and Singapore, as important as those things are. Seeing the remarkable things that are happening here in this factory is a reminder of what’s at stake for the United States and the region -- expanding economic opportunity for all people, especially, in our case, the American people, maintaining peace and security that make this prosperity possible.

And today, I want to take a step back with you and talk about a pair of challenges that the leaders in this region are confronting, and they’re confronting around the world. First is, how do we continue this economic growth? And second, how do we manage the tensions in the South China Sea that are emerging?

This is an important moment in the development of the global economy. When President Obama and I took office, it was a time of significant economic crisis, requiring us to take aggressive measures to stabilize the United States economy, which was in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. We also inherited two wars, one which we’ve ended and one which we are responsibly ending. Our economy has come back from the brink and is growing again. Over the past four years, we’ve made significant progress: 40 straight months of job growth; we’ve gone from losing over 800,000 jobs a month when we were sworn in to creating on an average of 200,000 jobs a month in 2013. More to do, more to do. But we’ve created 500,000 manufacturing jobs. You need not tell anybody in this facility why manufacturing jobs are necessary to maintain a strong and growing middle class -- a job you can raise a family on; a job that you can own a home on; a job that you can provide for your family on.

The fastest growth in manufacturing in America since the ‘90s, and manufacturing -- particularly high-tech manufacturing companies are returning from China, from other parts of the world to the United States of America. The $17 trillion in household income that was lost as the consequence of the Great Recession, prior to us taking office, it has all been restored. We have regained over $17 trillion in household wealth since we took office. Retirement funds and 401(k)’s are back. And there’s significant growth in housing in America. And those of you who know -- and you do know -- that for a vast majority of Americans, the house they own and the equity in that house is the measure of their wealth in large part.

So Americans are feeling again that they are acquiring wealth. And as a consequence, what’s happening is consumer confidence is returning as well.

The long and short of this all -- there’s more to do -- America is back. The world understands America is back. And they understand what I said in Beijing two years ago: It’s never, never, never, ever a good bet to bet against America. It has never been a good bet, and it is not now. (Applause.)

There’s more to do. That’s why President Obama and I are staying focused on economic growth and continuing to rebuild the economy. But we view the way to build the economy is the old-fashioned way -- from the middle out. There’s also a need to focus on the global economy, though. Growth has slowed in Europe and the Pacific. Now, unlike five years ago, the issue isn’t so much a crisis. The issue now, in this part of the world and in Europe, which I visit often, is whether or not there’s the potential for drift in our economies, a potential that we lose sight of what we need to finish.

The world’s leading economies simply can’t allow the drift to be sustained. As I’ve traveled this region -- and I’ll be back again in the fall in China and Japan -- but as I’ve traveled this region, it’s clear to me that all the nations involved understand what they need to do to regenerate growth at the pace it existed the past decade. And what is most required is a political will -- a political will. They know what needs to be done.

Europe has struggled with an existential crisis as to whether or not the European Union would survive. They’ve made progress. They have stabilized the situation. Now they need to focus on growth as well as their budgets. Japan, after decades of stagnation and deflation, the Japanese government has taken significant steps to breathe new life into their economy. But as I discussed yesterday with Prime Minister Abe, as I did when he was in Washington some months ago, some of the most difficult steps remain for Japan, especially on the structural reforms like reforming their labor market.

In China, where I’ve spent a great deal of time, after years of rapid expansion, growth is slowing. And it’s clear that the Chinese government understands that there are internal reforms that they need -- not that we are suggesting, but they have acknowledged and published. But implementing them will be difficult. Stakeholders are involved in all these changes in every country. China understands the need to -- for a swift shift to a consumption-driven economy. They know there’s a need to create a market-based, well-regulated financial system, supplanting what exists now, and to liberalize exchange rates. But it will be difficult. They are tough political decisions that need to be made.

I’ve recently come back from visiting Brazil, and as of two days ago, India -- two countries that have been part of the engine of economic growth in the last decade. But their growth, as well, has slowed. And they understand they faced renewed questions as how to regain and reignite growth, to build infrastructure, maintain public services, generate innovation and investment. It’s my impression, as I meet with the heads of state of all these countries, that most emerging markets understand they have to transition away from protectionist policies and open their economies to a more fair and level field of competition.

But that path, although difficult, is quite clear. And the best way to unleash the talents of your people and generate economic opportunity is through greater integration; a level playing field where private enterprise, foreign and domestic, can compete with state-owned enterprise; where there are fewer barriers at and behind the borders; where intellectual property is protected; where domestic content requirements are diminished; where there’s a court system that adjudicates disputes fairly.

I was asked not long ago, in speaking with Lee Kuan Yew, which was a great honor as he is getting older but his mind is as sharp as it’s ever been. He said what the rest of the world is trying to do is trying to figure out what that black box is in America that allows you to reinvent yourself constantly.

And it’s clear what it is. To paraphrase the founder of Apple, who’s passed away, when asked at Stanford University, what do I have to be to be more like you? He said, Think different. You can only think different where you can breathe free, where you can challenge orthodoxy, where there’s a certitude about the rule of law and a court system that is not corrupt and where you can adjudicate your differences. This is the path to growth in the 21st century.

But it is difficult. It is difficult. It requires some patience, but there’s a need for incremental movement in that direction. That's why the United States is working with partners like Singapore to make a global trading system for the 21st century that is more competitive and fair.

There’s an Irish poet who wrote about his Ireland in the year 1916 after the first Rising, as we Irish say, against Britain in the 20th century. And there’s a line in that poem that he used that better describes the state of the world we face today. He said, “All’s changed; changed utterly. A terrible beauty has been born.”

The world of the 21st century is fundamentally different than the world of the 20th century, requiring new rules of the road as we needed after World War II with Bretton Woods and other institutional changes we made; and that includes trade.

Because we believe -- we believe -- that if, in fact, we move in that direction, that the case Pratt & Whitney and other American corporations can compete anywhere in the world with anybody at any time on condition it is open, transparent and free.

Toward that end, we’re working to establish new rules of the road for economic growth and expansion, which will benefit all people. It’s overwhelmingly in America’s interest that China’s economy continue to grow; that India’s economy expand; that Brazil reaches its potential.

We’re negotiating now a transatlantic investment partnership with Europe. We already have -- if you count everything going back and forth -- over a trillion dollars in commerce and trade. But that partnership needs to be reinvigorated, a partnership which will bring more growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

In December at Bali, the World Trade Organization will be meeting. Our goal there is to streamline global trade. With regard to China and India, we’re working on bilateral investment treaties that will give investors greater certainty and productivity and generate greater economic growth.

The President kids me because I keep using the phrase: Reality has a way of intruding eventually. Reality has a way of intruding. And reality has intruded on the models that heretofore have generated the growth in those countries.

We’re pursuing a Trans-Pacific Partnership with countries as diverse as Vietnam, Chile, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, at which point the group -- that group will account for 40 percent of the world’s GDP.

The TPP has the potential to set new standards for a collective commitment to fair competition on state-owned companies, investment, labor, environment, open markets, automobiles and other industries. This will create a strong incentive when we complete this for other nations to raise their standards so they can join.

It is true the TPP is ambitious, and it should be. But it is also doable, and we’re working hard to get it done this year. The TPP is part of our policy of rebalancing both strategically and economically. As we got the economy from -- moved back from the brink, and we ended the war in Iraq, and ending the war in Afghanistan, where we spent over a trillion dollars, we are once again able to refocus on where are the priorities for the United States. Where should we be focusing and reinvesting?

And in terms of economics, the Asia-Pacific region stretching from India to the Pacific nations of the Americas is home of a middle class that's more than a billion people, some of the fastest growing rates in the world, an emerging market whose choices will shape the character of the entire world economy for the next several decades.

But economic growth rests upon a foundation of stability and security. And the Pacific is home of some of the world’s busiest sea lanes and shipping routes. And despite*(sic - disputes) that, if left unaddressed, could become fault lines for future conflict.

The increase of maritime incidents and assertive actions we’ve seen lately in the South China Sea represent a threat to the security of the Asia-Pacific region. And the President and I are concerned by what we’re seeing. We’re concerned that tensions are growing, not declining. We know that as parties operate in close proximity in this region, the risk of mistake and miscalculation increase.

My dad, God love him, used to have an expression. He said, the only conflict worse than one that is intended is one that is unintended. And the prospect for miscalculation is real. It would not take much of an incident to escalate intention to turn into conflict.

The only way to effectively manage and resolve those tensions, those territorial disputes is through peaceful diplomatic process that respects the rights of all claimants and is rooted in the foundations of international law. That means no intimidation, no coercion, no aggression, no bellicose rhetoric. Any and all peaceful means for resolving these disputes should be available, including arbitration.

Short of a long-term resolution, we want to see the mechanisms to manage these disputes in a more stable and predictable circumstance. That's why we support a meaningful code of conduct. We welcome ASEAN’s efforts to advance talks on a code of conduct, and we’re pleased by the recent moves to begin those consultations in the region.

But we can't be in a position year after year of merely talking about a code of conduct while tensions continue to increase. Delay only raises risks. So as we look ahead to the East Asia summit this year, all parties involved should be looking for a way to move quickly toward a substantive code.

The United States has a deep stake in these issues. We are, we will remain a resident Pacific power. Let me say that again, we are and we will remain a resident Pacific power. And it’s in the interest of all nations, especially Pacific nations, that we be there.

Ladies and gentlemen, freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce, respect for international laws and norms, the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes -- all of these, our interest in these issues is not new. It’s been consistent for over 60 years. America by admission of everyone, including the Chinese -- America has helped create the conditions for security and stability that allow -- has allowed the Asian-Pacific nations to turn their talents and intentions to the economic miracle that we witnessed the previous 60 years.

As I said at the outset, a trip to a factory like this is a reminder of what’s at stake: the livelihoods of good and decent people, decent paying jobs. From Southeast Asia to my home country, they cannot afford for their governments to be complacent about peace and economic prosperity. And we are not. America is all in here in Asia, and we will keep working to help create a peaceful region, a stable and growing global economy for all people. This will not only be good for Asia, but it’s good for America and good for the world. That's why -- that's why we’ve rebalanced our focus in the world on Asia. We are not leaving anywhere, but we are rebalancing here. It’s in our interest. It’s in Asia’s interest. It’s in the world’s interest. It’s good for the world.

Thank you all very much for the great work you do. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. May God bless you all and may God protect our troops.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END
1:23 P.M. SGT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 27, 2013

WEEKLY ADDRESS: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama told the American people about his speech at Knox College on Wednesday, where he discussed the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class, including having a good job, a home that is your own, quality education, a secure retirement, and affordable health care. While we have laid the foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth, there is more work to be done, and that is why over the coming weeks the President will continue to lay out his plan for growing the economy from the middle out, and create a better bargain for the middle class.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, July 27, 2013.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
July 27, 2013

Hi everybody. On Wednesday, I spoke about what we need to do as a country to build a better bargain for the middle class – to make sure everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead in the 21st century economy.

You see, over the past four and a half years, America has fought its way back from the worst recession of our lifetimes. We saved the auto industry, took on a broken health care system, invested in new American technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil, and changed a tax code too skewed in favor of the wealthiest at the expense of working families.

As a result, our businesses have created 7.2 million new jobs over the past 40 months. We produce more renewable energy than ever, and more natural gas than anyone. Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.

Thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we’ve cleared away the rubble of crisis and begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.

But as any middle-class family will tell you, we’re not yet where we need to be. Trends that have been eroding middle-class security for decades – technology that makes some jobs obsolete, global competition that makes others moveable, growing inequality and the policies that perpetuate it – all these things still exist, and in some ways, the recession made them worse.

Reversing these trends must be Washington’s highest priority. It sure is mine. But over the past couple of years in particular, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. An endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals shift focus from what needs to be done. And as Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes could not be higher. The choices we make now will determine whether or not every American has a fighting chance in the 21^st century.

If we don’t make the investments necessary to make America a magnet for good jobs – in education, and manufacturing, and research, and our transportation and information networks – we might as well hit the “pause” button while the rest of the world forges ahead in a global economy. And that’s certainly not going to fix what ails the middle class.

Here’s what will: a strategy that builds on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America, and what it takes to work your way into the middle class. Good jobs that pay good wages. An education that prepares our children and our workers for the global competition they’ll face. Homeownership that’s based on a solid foundation, where buyers and lenders play by the same set of rules. Affordable health care that’s there for you when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. More chances for folks to earn their way into the middle class as long as they’re willing to work for it.

Over the next several weeks, in cities and towns across the country, I’ll continue to lay out my ideas in each of these areas. Because reversing the forces that have conspired against the middle class for decades will require more than short-term thinking; it will require a long-term American strategy, based on steady, persistent effort.

I know there are members of both parties who understand what’s at stake, and I’m open to ideas from across the political spectrum, as long as they meet the test of strengthening the prospects of hard-working families. But repealing Obamacare, gutting critical investments in our future, threatening to default on the bills this country has already racked up, or shutting down the government just because I’m for keeping it open – none of those thing add up to an economic plan. None of that will take this country where it needs to go.

We can do this if we work together. It won’t be easy, but if we take a few bold steps – and if Washington is willing to shake off its complacency and set aside some of the slash-and-burn partisanship we’ve seen in recent years – our economy will keep getting stronger.

And as long as I have the privilege of holding this office, I will spend every minute of every day doing everything in my power to make this economy work for working Americans again; to build that better bargain for the middle class; to make sure that the American Dream is something that’s achievable for everybody – not just today, but for decades to come.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

###

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 26, 2013

President Obama Signs Colorado Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Colorado and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by the Royal Gorge Fire during the period of June 11-16, 2013.

Federal funding is available for Disaster Unemployment Assistance for affected individuals in Fremont County.

Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the Royal Gorge Fire in Fremont County.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 26, 2013

Remarks to the Press by Vice President Biden and Prime Minister Lee of Singapore

Istana
Singapore

**Please see below for a correction to the transcript, marked with an asterisk.

3:45 P.M. SGT

PRIME MINISTER LEE: Ladies and gentlemen, is it my great pleasure to welcome Vice President Biden to Singapore.

I was -- met him last in the White House in April (inaudible) together with President Obama, and I’m delighted to reciprocate Vice President Biden’s very kind hospitality. I hope you enjoy the visit and I hope that Mrs. Biden likes the orchid that we made up.

Our relations with the U.S. are wide-ranging and in excellent shape. Many U.S. institutions, colleges like Yale University, Duke Medical School or Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute are partnering with Singapore universities. And American companies are here too in big numbers, like Pratt & Whitney, which the Vice President is visiting. And they have contributed much to our economy and they are continuing to invest and to upgrade their operations.

We are also pleased to have a very good security relationship and defense relationship with the U.S. And we’re hosting the first U.S. LCS littoral combat ship in Singapore, which arrived in April to conduct exercises together with navies in the region.

So in our discussions just now, the Vice President and I agreed to explore new partnerships in R&D, in culture and in education. We are (inaudible) very happy that the U.S. is engaged in the region, Asia Pacific, and particularly, of course, in Southeast Asia and ASEAN, our partners as well -- and on a global front, through security cooperation, trade, education, energy and so on.

Singapore is friends with America, also with India, Japan and China and the other major powers. And we would like to maintain our good relations with all of them. And we’ve always believed that the U.S. has a constructive role to play in the region, and the Vice President has played a significant role being responsible for these efforts in this administration, and especially in maintaining and strengthening (inaudible) between U.S. and China.

One of the manifestations of America’s engagement in the region is the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Singapore played a modest role getting this going because we were one of the founding members in the P4, together with Brunei, with Chile and New Zealand. And the TPP is built around the blueprints of the P4.

We support Japan’s participation in the TPP. And I met Prime Minister Abe earlier this morning. And we are very happy that with Japan’s and with the United States’ and the other countries’ support, the TPP is as strategically and needed-for step forward towards free trade in the Asia Pacific.

So we look forward to continuing our conversation with the United States and (inaudible) our cooperation. And I wish the Vice President a very successful visit, and I look forward to carrying on the conversation with him over dinner tonight.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. Thank you for your hospitality.

Let me begin by echoing comments that the Prime Minister said. The United States also is friends with India, China and Japan. We have a positive relationship with all and a strong strategic relationship with Japan.

I want to thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for continuation of what was a wide-ranging and delightful conversation that we started in the United States. And we discussed many issues of interest to the United States and Singapore, and we stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast majority of the issues that we jointly face.

I’ve come to Singapore at the request of President Obama to underscore our commitment to our rebalance in the Asia Pacific, and particularly to Southeast Asia, and to our bilateral relationship with Singapore.

Ours is a growing partnership, and it’s also a partnership of growing purpose. Singapore sits equidistant from Beijing and New Delhi, at the center of the region’s east, west and north, south trade routes. Singapore’s port is the world’s largest trans-shipping hub. ASEAN now represents $2 trillion of economy, and 600 million people, and Singapore is its economic (inaudible).

And so, Mr. Prime Minister, as we discussed, there’s enormous pride -- there’s enormous promise in our economic cooperation for our two countries and I would respectfully suggest the entire region. It’s remarkable that Singapore, a country of 5 million people, now has a $50 billion trading relationship with the United States.* And that you are our 17th largest trading partner, ahead of Russia and other much larger countries.

Your economic success is testament to the people and the leaders of Singapore, and it is -- I have the great honor of being able to meet your father shortly, one of the most admired men in the world, one of the reasons why you are where you are -- not you personally, but your country.

And also Singapore is also -- as (inaudible) economic (inaudible) we share in 21st century: fewer barriers at and behind our borders; protections of intellectual property and rewards for innovation; rules governing congress that are transparent -- excuse me, governing commerce that are transparent and clearly defined; high standards and a new commitment to treat companies fairly whether they are foreign or domestic, state-owned or private.

These are the core ingredients of 21st century growth in our opinion, and they're major reasons why businesses flock to Singapore.

And I also (inaudible) to the Trans-Pacific Partnership our countries have been negotiating in Malaysia in these past few weeks. This agreement will connect Singapore and the United States with Pacific economies as diverse as Vietnam, Chile, New Zealand, Mexico and now Japan.

We welcome Japan negotiating this week, and now the 12 countries at the negotiating table account for 40 percent -- 40 percent -- of the world’s GDP. The TPP nations represent a core constituency for stronger, global economic rules of the road for the 21st century. That's at the core of what you’re about.

These -- this agreement is ambitious, and it should be. But it’s also -- the TPP, it’s not only ambitious, it’s doable. And we’re working hard with Singapore and others to get it done in 2013.

Prime Minister Lee and I also spoke about our regional security. We each expressed our concerns about rising tensions in the South China Sea. All the parties have a common interest in the freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of territorial disputes. The United States urges all parties to reject coercion, intimidation, threats and the use of force. We encourage the ASEAN and China to quickly reach agreement on a code of conduct.

We were encouraged by the agreements that started discussions in the code of conduct, and we hope to see them follow through in the upcoming weeks.

We also discussed the need to deepen our counterproliferation, law enforcement cooperation to address emerging threat and maintain the momentum in our military-to-military relationship, which is strong and effective.

I look forward tomorrow to visiting the USS Fitzgerald and a littoral combat ship, the USS Freedom, which is evidence of the nature of that strong relationship.

The Freedom is currently rotationally deployed here in Singapore, a powerful symbol of our shared commitment to stability, security and freedom of navigation in (inaudible).

And finally we discussed (inaudible) greater rights that people across the region are seeking.

So let me then close by thanking the people of Singapore for their incredible hospitality. Mr. Prime Minister, never did I think in my wildest dreams that I would have an orchid named after me and my wife in Singapore. (Laughter.) That was beyond any expectation I ever had as a child or as an adult, but it’s truly a great honor. (Laughter.)

And so it’s a tremendous honor to be with you again, Mr. Prime Minister, and I thank you for this gesture and for the terrific discussion. Thank you.

END
3:55 P.M. SGT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 25, 2013

Remarks by the President at Iftar Dinner

State Dining Room

8:50 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Please have a seat.

Let me begin by saying welcome to all of you. I’m so glad that all of you were able to attend. I want to acknowledge members of the diplomatic corps; we have members of Congress here, including Keith Ellison and Andre Carson. Where’s Andres? He’s usually not hard to miss. (Laughter.) There you go. Leaders from my administration, and guests from all across our nation. And to all of you, and to Muslim Americans all across the country and around the world -- Ramadan Kareem.

Here at the White House, we now have a tradition of celebrating the sacred days of our various faiths. And these are occasions to reflect on the teachings that so many religions share; to celebrate the diversity that defines our country; and to reaffirm one of our most deeply held beliefs, that here in America and around the world, people should be free to choose the God that they worship however they choose, to practice their faiths freely, or to practice no faith at all.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a time of reflection, a chance to demonstrate one’s devotion to God through prayer and through fasting. But it’s also a time for family and friends to come together -- as we do tonight -- in a spirit of love and respect, to renew our obligations to one another, as well as to renew our commitment to our neighbors and helping the most needy among us. For as the Koran teaches, whoever does an atom’s weight of good, will see its results.

Throughout our history, Islam has contributed to the character of our country, and Muslim Americans, and their good works, have helped to build our nation -- and we’ve seen the results. We’ve seen those results in generations of Muslim immigrants -- farmers and factory workers, helping to lay the railroads and build our cities. Muslim innovators who helped build some of our highest skyscrapers and who helped to unlock the secrets of our universe.

Every day, Muslim Americans are helping to shape the way that we think and the way that we work and the way that we do business. And that’s the spirit that we celebrate tonight -- the dreamers, the creators whose ideas are pioneering new industries, creating new jobs and unleashing new opportunities for all of us.

We celebrate entrepreneurs like Shazi Visram, whose parents came here from Pakistan and Tanzania to give their children a better life. And as the founder, CEO and “Chief Mom” of Happy Family -- (laughter) -- Shazi is a leader in affordable, organic foods for children -- which makes Michelle very happy. In just seven years, she’s grown to 58 full-time employees, 75 part-time working moms, and they’re on track to hit $100 million in revenue this year. So no wonder she’s been called a “Rockstar of the New Economy.” (Applause.)

By the way, every time that they sell one of their products, they contribute to global efforts to end child hunger. So Shazi is not only just an outstanding businesswoman, but also a leader that all of us can emulate.

We celebrate innovators like Aunim Hossain. In one of his first ventures, he designed a hand-held device to help detect breast cancer. Now, as the creator of Tista Games, he’s setting his sights on the video game industry. But Aunim also has a bigger vision, and that's harnessing the talents and energy of hundreds of millions of gamers around the world to do social good. And he imagines applying the same high-quality stories and graphics in his games to the next generation of educational material to help children learn. So we're very appreciative for Aunim for the good work that he’s doing.

We celebrate pioneers like Dr. Iya Khalil, whose father came here from Libya to finish his education -- she grew up watching him in his lab and dreaming of being a scientist herself. Today, she calls herself a “recovering physicist” -- and she puts her talents to work as an entrepreneur. She co-founded her own bio-tech research company, which today employs almost 50 people and is a leader in genomic medicine -- making it possible for doctors to prescribe personalized treatment plans for patients with diseases like cancer, and giving new hope to people around the world. So we thank Iya for her efforts.

So Shazi, Aunim, Iya, and so many of you who have traveled here tonight -- each of you have traveled your own path, but each of you have also lived out an American story. You started with an idea -- something no one had done before. You took a leap of faith. And with daring and determination, you brought your dream to life. And that’s what we Americans have been doing for more than two centuries. That’s what we do every day -- we work a little harder; we aim a little higher; and we keep striving to create more opportunity for our children and future generations.

And of course, this isn’t just the American Dream; it’s the aspiration of people around the world. It’s the basic human desire for progress, to find dignity that comes from work, to give our children something better. These yearnings for economic freedom and opportunity, just as much as political freedom, are at the root of so much of the change we’ve seen around the world in the past few years -- including in North Africa and in the Middle East.

And that’s why, even as we support citizens seeking to determine their own destiny, a key part of our engagement with Muslim communities around the world has to be supporting economic opportunity and entrepreneurship. So we launched our annual entrepreneurship summit to spur innovation and business growth in Muslim communities. I'm going to be attending one when I go to the ASEAN meeting in Southeast Asia later this year. In my second term, we’re going to keep helping young entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and create opportunities, the kind of prosperity that can transform lives around the world.

Whoever does an atom’s weight of gold [good] will see its results. When I look around the room tonight, beyond the communities you represent, I see all the profound good that’s been accomplished. So all of us are seeing the results of your good work -- the opportunities to create for your colleagues and your communities and for our country. So I want to thank you for what you do, and for reminding us that our nation is stronger and more successful when we harness the talents of all Americans -- no matter where we come from, or what we look like, what our last names are, or how we pray.

So God bless you all. May you and your families have a blessed Ramadan. And with that, I know people are hungry -- (laughter) -- let’s eat. Thank you. (Applause.)

END
8:59 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 25, 2013

Remarks by the President on the Economy -- Jacksonville, FL

Port Terminal Building
Jacksonville Port
Jacksonville, Florida

2:45 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Jacksonville! (Applause.) Well, it is good to be in Jacksonville. Good to be back. (Applause.) How you all doing today?

AUDIENCE: Good!

THE PRESIDENT: You look good.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Laughter.)

I want to thank Jacksonville Port Authority Chairman, Joe York. Give him a big round of applause. (Applause.) I want to thank the CEO of M.O.L. America, Tsuyoshi Yoshida. (Applause.) I want to thank everybody here at Jaxport for having me here today. I brought along our new Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx. He is here. (Applause.) We’ve got wonderful Congresswoman Corrine Brown here. Yay, Corrine! (Applause.) Mayor Alvin Brown is also in the house. (Applause.)

And I would like to recognize the folks from the port and TraPac for showing me the cranes you’ve got back at the terminal. Those are some big cranes. (Laughter.) This is some serious business here. And just watching what was going on down here and knowing what’s possible is a reminder of all the potential that we’ve got in this country to put folks to work to rebuild America, to make sure that everybody has got a fair shot.

Yesterday, in Illinois, I talked about what we need to do as a country to build a better bargain for the middle class and everybody who’s trying to get into the middle class -- a strategy that we’ve got to pursue, together, to make sure that everybody who works hard has a chance to get ahead in this 21st century economy. Because, for decades, a growing middle class was the engine of our prosperity; it’s what made us great. If you worked hard, you knew your work was going to be rewarded, with fair wages, good benefits, the chance to buy a home, save for retirement, and most of all, the chance to pass down a better life to your kids. That’s the American Dream.

But eventually, that engine of prosperity began to stall. You had technology that made some jobs obsolete. You had globalization, which meant some jobs got shipped overseas. Unions got weaker, in part because some of the laws that we passed. And so for most of the last decade, people were working harder and harder just to get by. And then you have a devastating recession because of what happened in the financial markets, and that cost millions of Americans their jobs, and their homes, and their savings. And what it did was lay bare for everybody to see the steady erosion of middle-class security that had been happening for almost a generation.

Now, the good news is that after nearly five years since that financial crisis happened, thanks to the hard work and the resilience of the American people, America has fought back. So together, we saved an auto industry. And I was told that the terminal I was at is one of the places where we’re sending out more American cars than ever before, all around the world. (Applause.)

We took on a broken health care system. We invested in new American technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil. We doubled our production of clean energy. We put in place tough new rules on the big banks, and the mortgage lenders, and credit card companies, to make sure that we didn’t have the same kinds of financial shenanigans that we had seen before. We changed a tax code that was too skewed in favor of the wealthy, made sure it was doing more for middle-class and working-class families. We locked in tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans, and then we asked folks at the top to pay a little bit more.

So you add all this up, and over the last 40 months, our businesses have created 7.2 million new jobs -- 7.2. (Applause.) And this year, we’re off to our strongest private sector job growth since 1999 -- strongest job growth in over a decade.

So today, we sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. Our exports have surged. We produce more natural gas than any country on Earth. We’re about to produce more of our own oil than we buy from overseas. That's the first time that's happened in nearly 20 years. (Applause.) The cost of health care is growing at its slowest rate in 50 years. And our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years. (Applause.) So you've got health care costs starting to slow down, deficits plummeting -- jobs up, exports up, energy production up.

We've cleared away the rubble from the financial crisis, thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, and we've begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable more sustainable economic growth. And with the revolutions that are coming in energy and technology and manufacturing and health care, we're poised to be able to finally reverse some of those forces that were hurting middle-class families for so long. We can start rebuilding an economy where everybody who works hard can get ahead. That's our goal. (Applause.)

But I’m here to tell you today what you already know -- we’re not there yet. In a lot of ways, those trends that have been building for decades, this winner-take-all economy where a few folks are doing better and better and better at the top, and everybody else is just treading water -- those trends have been made worse by the recession. And reversing those trends should be Washington’s highest priority. It’s my highest priority.

Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, in particular, Washington hasn’t just ignored the problem, a lot of times it’s made things worse. And sometimes when you're on the outside, you look and it just sounds like a bunch of noise and you don't know what's going on between Democrats and Republicans. And my attitude is that we're all Americans first and no party has a monopoly on good ideas. And I think there are a number of Republicans out there who mean well, although they're not always willing to say so, because they might get in trouble. (Laughter.)

But right now, we’ve seen a group of Republicans in the House, in particular, who suggest they wouldn’t vote to pay the very bills that Congress has already racked up. That harmed our recovery back in 2011. It would severely harm it again. It could plunge us back into financial crisis.

Over the last six months, the gridlock has gotten worse. There are a number of Republican senators who are trying to get things done. They passed a strong immigration bill that economists say will boost our economy by more than a trillion dollars. But so far, we haven't been able to get the House Republicans to give it a vote.

And if you ask some of these same folks about how they would strengthen the middle class, they'll tell you, well, out-of-control government spending is the problem -- despite the fact that as a share of the economy we have cut the deficit by nearly half since I took office. Or they’ll say Obamacare is the problem -- the problem is that we're trying to give health insurance to millions of Americans who don't have it. (Applause.) Now, I've got to tell you our businesses created jobs at nearly twice the pace of the last recovery, when there was no Obamacare, so it's kind of hard to figure how Obamacare is actually the problem, giving people health insurance. And by the way, tens of millions of Americans now have new benefits like free checkups and cheaper medicine on Medicare. So they don't think that's a problem. (Applause.)

The point is, with an endless distraction of political posturing and phony scandals and lord knows what, Washington keeps taking its eye off the ball. And that needs to stop. We’ve got to stop with the short-term thinking. We’ve got to stop with the outdated debates. That's not what the moment requires.

A focus on the core economic issues that matter to you, that matter to middle-class Americans, all those who are trying to get in the middle class -– that’s what this moment requires. We’ve got to stay focused on how do we build an economy that works everybody. That's my focus. (Applause.)

And as Washington prepares to enter another budget battle, another budget debate, the stakes could not be higher. At a time when we need to make investments to create jobs, and strengthen the middle class, and grow our economy -- because we’ve got competition coming from all around the world -- we’ve got some of the House Republicans who put forward a budget that does just the opposite. They’re pushing bills that would cut education, cut science, cut research, prevent us from meeting these priorities.

We should be doubling down on American clean energy technology -- they're creating jobs, lowering dangerous carbon pollution. But they want to protect taxpayer giveaways to big oil companies. Let other countries win the race for the jobs of the future. That doesn't make sense.

Instead of helping hardworking students afford the college degree that the jobs of tomorrow increasingly demand, they want to slash funding for the very grants that help students make their tuition payments.

Instead of giving more families the security of decent health care, they want to let insurance companies reinstate lifetime dollar limits and drop millions of people from their plans.

And if we don’t make the necessary investments to ensure that America is a magnet for good jobs -- investments in education, manufacturing, research and transportation and information networks -- we’re just waving the white flag of surrender to other countries as they forge ahead in this global economy. That kind of attitude is saying there’s nothing we can do to help middle-class families compete and win and grow. And that's a bad bargain for the middle class.

So that’s why I came down to Jacksonville today. I want you involved in this debate and remind Washington what’s at stake. And over the next several weeks, in cities and towns just like this one, I’m going to lay out my ideas for how we build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America, what it takes to work your way into the middle class in America, and what we can do to help families -- not help special interests, but help families. That's what we need. (Applause.)

And by the way, Jacksonville, what we need isn’t a three-month plan, or even a three-year plan, we’ve got to have a long-term plan based on steady, persistent effort to reverse the forces that are conspiring against the middle-class families. That’s what I’m pushing for. And like I said, I think that there are Democrats and Republicans who understand what’s at stake, and I’m going to welcome ideas from anybody across the political spectrum. But I’m not going to let gridlock or inaction or indifference to the plight of families get in the way of this country.

So where I can act on my own, I’m going to act on my own. I won’t wait for Congress. (Applause.) Because the choices we make right now will determine whether or not every American will have a fighting chance in the 21st century.

So we know what those cornerstones of middle-class security are: A good job with good wages; a good education; a home you can call your own; affordable health care that’s there for you when you get sick; a secure retirement even if you’re not rich. More chances for folks to earn their way into the middle class as long as they’re willing to work hard for it.

But I’m here today to specifically talk about the cornerstone, the essence of middle-class security, and that’s a good job in a growth industry. We’ve got to help more manufacturers bring more jobs back to America. (Applause.) We’ve got to keep creating good jobs in manufacturing. We’ve got to create good jobs in wind and solar energy. We’ve got to tap into this natural gas revolution that’s bringing energy costs down in this country, which means manufacturers now want to locate here because they’re thinking that we’ve got durable, reliable supplies of energy. We’ve got to create more jobs today doing what you’re doing right here at JAXPORT -- and that’s building this country’s future. (Applause.)

We need modern schools for our kids. We need modern power grids and fuel networks that can withstand stronger storms. And we need modern ports so we can move more goods made in America out to the rest of the world. (Applause.)

If you want to create jobs right now, but also jobs that will have impacts for years, here’s the way to do it. We know strong infrastructure is a key ingredient to a thriving economy. That’s how the United States became the best place in the world to do business. Unfortunately, over the past two years, too many folks in Washington have been cutting these investments. The world can't wait for Congress to get its act together. So let me give you an example -- and many of you are familiar with this.

In a couple of years, new supertankers are going to start coming through the Panama Canal. Those supertankers can hold three times the amount of cargo. We want those supertankers coming here to Jacksonville. (Applause.) If we’ve got more supertankers coming here, that means more jobs at the terminals. That means more warehouses in the surrounding area. That means more contractors are getting jobs setting up those warehouses. That means they’ve got more money to spend at the restaurant. That means the waitress has more money to spend to buy her iPod. It starts working for everybody.

If we want our workers and businesses to compete, then our ports have to be ready to receive those supertankers. Otherwise, they’ll go to Brazil or some other place.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: You tell them, Mr. President!

THE PRESIDENT: So that’s why last year I acted without Congress, and I took executive action to speed up the permitting process that gets workers breaking ground on projects like this one. (Applause.) And then private companies came onboard here at Jaxport. They saw it as a good investment. And we’re building the same kind of partnerships across the country -- especially, by the way, in some of these Gulf ports -- Charleston, Savannah. And now, these ports are on track to be better prepared for those supertankers and their cargo loads ahead of schedule.

But we now have got to keep at it. The businesses of tomorrow will not locate near old roads, outdated ports -- they’re going to go to places where the ports are good, the roads are good, the rail lines are good, you’ve got high-speed Internet, you’ve got high-tech schools, trained workers, systems that move air traffic and auto traffic faster.

Think about it in terms of your own house, right? If you’ve got a leaky roof and you haven't done the tuckpointing, and the boiler is getting kind of old and rickety, you can say to yourself, well, I'm going to save money by not fixing my roof. And I'm going to save money by not getting a new boiler. And I'm not going to worry about that tuckpointing. And then, two years later, five years down the road, what happens? House starts breaking down. You end up spending more money.

We can't defer things that we know we're going to have to do and, by the way, would put people to work right now doing them. But that's what we're doing right now. As a share of our economy, we’re investing less in rebuilding America than we did two decades ago. We're spending less on fixing our infrastructure than China is, than Germany is. All our competitors, they know we've got to start taking care of this stuff. We're lagging behind.

And the irony is right now it’s cheaper to build than it’s been since the 1950s. You’ve got a whole bunch of construction workers who are looking for work right now. You’ve got a whole bunch of contractors who will come in under -- with low bids, and they'll come in on time.

So now is the time for us to do it. The longer we put this off, the more expensive it will be; the less competitive we'll be. So why aren't we doing it? Now, part of it's just politics right now. But making sure we've got world-class infrastructure, that shouldn’t be a partisan issue. That’s an American issue. It's not a Republican or a Democratic issue.

But this year’s budget cuts have delayed two important rapid transit projects right here in Jacksonville that would carry more people into downtown, alleviate congestion at the same time, and put more Floridians back to work.

We can do better than that. There’s a bipartisan bill in the Senate to fund critical improvements in our highways and our bridges, our transit and rail systems and our ports like this one. And so the House should act quickly on that bill. Let's get more Americans back on the job doing the work America needs done. That will be good for middle-class families. That will be good for middle-class security. (Applause.) That will be good for homeownership. That will be good for education. That is the smart thing to do. Let's get past politics and do it. (Applause.)

I tell my Republican friends this is not a partisan issue. The first Republican President is a guy from my home state. He was a pretty good President, named Abraham Lincoln. (Laughter.) He had a whole lot of things to worry about -- had a Civil War, probably the biggest crisis that this country ever experienced. And yet, in the middle of that, he was still thinking about how do we build that Transcontinental Railroad? How are we going to widen our canals and our ports so that we can move products all around the country and eventually the world? How do we invest in land-grant colleges so that our workers are now skilled and can get those new jobs? We're going to invest in the National Science Foundation to make sure that we stay ahead of everybody else when it comes to technology.

He made those investments, the first Republican President. He didn’t say, well, that’s not the job of government to help do that. He wouldn’t have understood that kind of philosophy, because he understood there are some things we can only do together. And rebuilding our infrastructure is one of them.

Creating more good jobs, a better bargain for the middle class, helping folks who are working to join the middle class, an economy that grows from the middle out -- this isn’t what I’m going to be focusing on for the next few months; this is what I’m going to be focusing on for all the days I've got left in my presidency. I've counted them -- there are 1,266 days left -- (applause) -- 1,266 days left.

So over the next several weeks, we're going to roll out these plans. We're going to take them across the country. We're going to ask not just Congress to do something; we're going to ask everybody for their help -- CEOs, workers, college presidents, students, Democrats, independents, and, yes, Republicans.

I'm laying out my ideas to give the middle class a better shot. And if the Republicans don’t agree with me, I want them to lay out their ideas. If they’ve got a better plan to create jobs to rebuild our infrastructure and make sure that we've got great ports all along the Gulf, come on, let me know what your ideas are. I'm listening.

If they've got better ideas to make sure every American knows the security of affordable health care, well, share it with the country. Repealing Obamacare and slashing our budgets in education and research and infrastructure, that's not an economic plan. There's no economist who would look at that and say, well, that's the way we're going to help middle-class families, we're really going to grow doing that.

Shutting down the government just because I’m for keeping it open, that's not an economic plan. Threatening that you won’t pay the bills in this country when we've already racked up those bills, that's not an economic plan. That's just being a deadbeat. (Laughter and applause.)

So put out some plans. I don't claim to have a monopoly on every good idea. (Laughter.) I don't. I'm happy to steal good ideas from anybody, because I just want to make things work. And it may seem hard sometimes, but if we're willing to take a few bold steps -- if Washington will just shake off its complacency and set aside just this kind of constant gridlock and “my way or the highway” attitude, then our economy will be better a year from now, just like it's better now than it was last year. And it will be better five years from now. And it will be better 10 years from now.

And I'm going to spend every single minute of every day, as long as I have the privilege of this office, making sure that I'm doing everything in my power to make this economy work for working Americans again -- to build a better middle class and to make sure the American Dream is something that’s alive and real and achievable for decades to come. (Applause.)

That's what I'm fighting for, Florida. That's what I need you for, Florida. (Applause.) Let's make it happen. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END
3:09 P.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 25, 2013

Remarks by President Obama and President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam after Bilateral Meeting

Oval Office

11:30 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It is my pleasure to welcome President Truong Tan Sang to the White House and to the Oval Office for his first bilateral meeting with me. This represents the steady progression and strengthening of the relationship between our two countries.

Obviously, we all recognize the extraordinarily complex history between the United States and Vietnam. Step by step, what we have been able to establish is a degree of mutual respect and trust that has allowed us now to announce a comprehensive partnership between our two countries that will allow even greater cooperation on a whole range of issues from trade and commerce to military-to-military cooperation, to multilateral work on issues like disaster relief, to scientific and educational exchanges.

What we've also discussed is the ways in which through the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- or TPP -- both the United States and Vietnam are participating in what will be an extraordinarily ambitious effort to increase trade, commerce and transparency in terms of commercial relationships throughout the Asia Pacific region. And we're committed to the ambitious goal of completing this agreement before the end of the year because we know that this can create jobs and increase investment across the region and in both our countries.

We discussed the need for continued efforts to resolve peacefully maritime issues that have surfaced in the South China Sea and other parts of the Asia Pacific region. And we very much appreciate Vietnam’s commitment to working with ASEAN and the East Asia Summit in order for us to arrive at Codes of Conduct that will help to resolve these issues peacefully and fairly.

We discussed the challenges that all of us face when it comes to issues of human rights, and we emphasized how the United States continues to believe that all of us have to respect issues like freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly. And we had a very candid conversation about both the progress that Vietnam is making and the challenges that remain.

We both reaffirmed the efforts that have been made to deal with war legacy issues. We very much appreciate Vietnam's continued cooperation as we try to recover our Missing in Action and those that were lost during the course of the war. And I reaffirmed the United States' commitment to work with Vietnam around some of the environmental and health issues that have continued, decades later, because of the war.

Finally, we agreed that one of the great sources of strength between our two countries is the Vietnamese American population that is here but obviously has continued strong ties to Vietnam. And ultimately, it's those people-to-people relations that are the glue that can strengthen the relationship between any two countries.

So I just want to say to President Sang how much I appreciate his visit. I think it signifies the maturing and the next stage of the development between the United States and Vietnam. As we increase consultation, increase cooperation, increase trade, and scientific and education exchanges, ultimately, that’s going to be good for the prosperity and opportunities of the people here in the United States, as well as good for the opportunities and prosperity of the people of Vietnam.

At the conclusion of the meeting, President Sang shared with me a copy of a letter sent by Ho Chi Minh to Harry Truman. And we discussed the fact that Ho Chi Minh was actually inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson. Ho Chi Minh talks about his interest in cooperation with the United States. And President Sang indicated that even if it's 67 years later, it's good that we're still making progress.

Thank you very much for your visit. And I look forward to continued work together.

PRESIDENT SANG: (As interpreted.) Once again, I would like to thank you, President Obama, for your kind invitation extended to me to visit the United States as well as the warm hospitality that you have extended to me over the past couple of days while I'm here in the U.S.

To be frank, President Obama and I had a very candid, open, useful and constructive discussion. Given the progress of our bilateral relationship over the past 18 years, it is time now to form a comprehensive partnership in order to further strengthen our relations in various areas.

We discussed various matters, including political relations, science and technology, education, defense, the legacy of the war issue, environment, the Vietnamese-American community, human rights as well -- and the East Sea as well.

In a candid, open and constructive spirit, we have come to agree on many issues. We will strengthen high-level exchanges between the two countries. We will consider in order to continue our -- to upgrade the mechanism of cooperation at the high level, as well as take the best use of the existing mechanism of cooperation. Particularly, we will continue regular dialogue at the highest level as possible. I believe that this is the way in order to build a political trust for further development of our cooperation in all areas.

Economic and trade relation continue to be important to our relations. As far as TPP is concerned, the Vietnamese side will do its upmost in order to participate in the process of negotiations for the conclusion of TPP by the end of this year.

We also discussed in detail our cooperation in science and technology, in education and training, as well as security and defense. We also touched upon the war legacy issue, including human rights, which we still remain -- which we still have differences on the issue.

I also expressed my appreciation for the care that the U.S. has extended to the Vietnamese who came to settle in the United States and now they have become American citizens and contributing to the overall development of the U.S. And thanks to the support and assistance from the U.S. government as well as the American people, the Vietnamese-American community here in the U.S. has become more and more prosperous and successful in their life as well as work.

And I also would like to take this opportunity to convey a message from our government to the Vietnamese-American community here in the U.S. that we would like to see you contributing more and more to the friendship between our two countries as well as further development of our relationship in the future.

We also discussed in detail the issue of the East Sea. We appreciate and welcome the U.S. support for our stance in this matter, as well as the stance of ASEAN related to this particular matter, and we appreciate the U.S. support to solving the matter by peaceful means in accordance with international law, DOC, and moving toward COC. We welcome the United States’ support as well as other countries’ support in the matter in order to ensure peace, stability, prosperity not only in the East Sea but also in the Asia Pacific and the world at large.

Last but not least, I also, on behalf of our government and our state, to extend to President Obama our invitation to visit Vietnam. And President Obama has accepted our invitation and will try his best to pay a visit to Vietnam during his term.

And, once again, I would like to thank President Obama and all of the American people for their warm hospitality extended to me during this trip to the United States. And I believe that our cooperation will continue to strengthen for the mutual interest and benefit of our people.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much, everybody.

END
11:50 A.M. EDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 25, 2013

Remarks by the President on the Economy -- Warrensburg, Missouri

University of Central Missouri
Warrensburg, Missouri

5:09 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Warrensburg! (Applause.) Hello, Mules! (Applause.) Hello, Jennies! (Applause.) Well, I know it’s hot. (Laughter.) That’s why I took off my jacket. If you’ve still got yours on feel free to take it off. It is great to be back in Missouri. It’s great to be back in the Midwest. It’s great to be here at UCM. (Applause.)

I want to thank your outstanding president, Dr. Chuck Ambrose, for having me here today. (Applause.) Give Brian a big round of applause for the introduction. (Applause.) You’ve got your outstanding governor, Jay Nixon, in the house. (Applause.) Your mayor, Charlie Rutt, is here. (Applause.) And I brought a special guest with me who is celebrating her birthday today -- your senator, Claire McCaskill. (Applause.) I figured the least I could do is give her a ride on Air Force One for her birthday. (Laughter.)

So we’ve got Mules in the house. We’ve got Jennies in the house. We’ve got governors, we’ve got senators, and now we’ve probably got some very confused people watching at home, because who is Jennie? (Laughter.)

I want to thank all the students who came out on a summer afternoon. I know that summer is -- especially a day as pretty as today, it’s tempting to be outside. I know classes don’t start for a few more weeks. You could be over on Pine Street beating the heat. (Applause.) Now that I think about it, it may be good that you’re here instead of getting into trouble. (Laughter.)

I’ve just come from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where I gave a pretty long speech on the economy. I will not repeat the whole thing here. (Applause.) But what I did want to talk about today is what I’ve talked about when I gave my first big speech as a senator eight years ago, and that’s where we as a country need to go to give every American a chance to get ahead in the 21st century. And UCM understands how important that is. (Applause.)

Just a little context here -- in the period after World War II, you had a growing middle class that was the engine of our prosperity. The economy did well in part because everybody was participating. And whether you owned a company, or you swept the floors of that company, or you worked anywhere in between, America offered a basic bargain: If you work hard, then you will be rewarded with fair wages and benefits. You’ll have the chance to buy your own home. You’ll have the chance to save for retirement. You’ll have the protection of decent health insurance. But most of all, you’ll have the chance to pass on a better life to your kids.

And then what happened was that engine began to stall. The bargain began to fray. So technology made some jobs obsolete -- nobody goes to a bank teller anymore. You want to schedule a trip somewhere, you get online. Global competition sent some jobs overseas. When I was in Galesburg, we talked about the Maytag plant that used to make household brands there and people -- thousands of people used to work in the plant and it went down to Mexico. Then Washington doled out bigger tax cuts to folks at the top income brackets, smaller minimum wage increases for people who were struggling. You combine all this and the income of the top 1 percent quadrupled from 1979 to 2007, but the typical family’s incomes barely budged.

So a lot of middle-class families began to feel that the odds were stacked against them -- and they were right. And then for a while, this was kind of papered over because we had a housing bubble going on, and everybody was maxing out on their credit cards, everybody was highly leveraged, there were a lot of financial deals going around. And so it looked like the economy was going to be doing okay, but then by the time I took office, the bottom had fallen out. And it cost, as we know, millions of Americans their jobs or their homes or their savings. And that long-term erosion of middle-class security was evident for everybody to see.

Now, the good news is, five years later, five years after the crisis first hit, America has fought its way back. So together, we saved an auto industry. We took on a broken health care system. We invested in new American technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil. We doubled the production of clean energy. Natural gas took off. We put in place tough new rules on big banks and mortgage lenders and credit card companies. We changed the tax code so it was fair for middle-class folks and didn't just benefit folks at the very top like me. (Laughter.) No, it's true, because things were skewed too much towards folks who were already blessed, already lucky. And you take all that together and now you add it all up.

What we've seen is over the past 40 months, our businesses have created more than 7.2 million new jobs. This year, we're off to our strongest private sector job growth since 1999. (Applause.) Our exports have surged, so we sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. (Applause.) We produce more natural gas than any country on Earth. We’re about to produce more of our own oil than we buy from overseas, and that's the first time that's happened in nearly 20 years. (Applause.) The cost of health care is growing at its slowest rate in 50 years, so we're slowing the growth of health care costs. (Applause.) And our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years. (Applause.) Deficits have been cut by almost half from the time I took office.

So we did this together, because Americans are gritty and resilient and work hard. We've been able to clear away the rubble of the financial crisis. We're starting to lay a new foundation for more durable economic growth. And with the new revolutions in energy and technology and manufacturing and health care, we're actually poised -- we're in a position to reverse all those forces that battered middle-class families for too long. We can start building now an economy where everybody who works hard can get ahead. That's all good. That's the good news.

But, Missouri, I’m here to tell you what you already know, which is we're not there yet. In some ways, the trends that have been building for decades -- this winner-take-all economy where a few do better and better, but everybody else just treads water -- all those trends were made worse by the recession. And reversing these trends has to be Washington’s number one priority. (Applause.) It has to be Washington's number one priority. (Applause.)

Putting people back to work, making sure the economy is working for everybody, building the middle class, making sure they're secure -- that's my highest priority. That's what I'm interested in. (Applause.) Because when the economy is working for middle-class families, it solves an awful lot of other problems. Now the poor start having ladders of opportunity they can climb into if they work hard. A lot of the social tensions are reduced, because everybody is feeling pretty good.

Now, unfortunately, over the past couple of years in particular, Washington hasn’t just ignored this problem -- they've actually made it worse. And I am interested in working with everybody, and there are a bunch of not just Democrats, but also Republicans who recognize that Washington is not working. But we've also seen a group of folks, particularly in the House, a group of Republicans in Congress that -- they suggested they wouldn’t vote to pay the bills that Congress had already run up. And that fiasco harmed a fragile recovery back in 2011.

We've got a growing number of Republican senators who are trying to get things done with their Democratic counterparts -- just passed an immigration bill that economists say is going to boost our economy by more than a trillion dollars. (Applause.) But so far, at least, there's a faction of House Republicans who won't let the bill go to the floor for a vote. And if you ask them, well, okay, what's your economic agenda for the middle class, how are we going to grow our economy so everybody prospers, they'll start talking about out-of-control government spending -- although, as I said, government spending has actually gone down and deficits are going down -- or they'll talk about Obamacare, the whole idea that somehow if we don't provide health insurance to 50 million Americans that's going to improve the economy. Never mind the fact that our jobs growth is a lot faster now than it was during the last recovery when Obamacare wasn't around.

So we've got some basic challenges that we're just going to have to meet. We've cut our deficit. We're creating jobs at nearly twice the pace. We are providing health care for Americans that need it. But we now have to get back and focus on what's important. An endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals can't get in the way of what we need to do. (Applause.) And I'm here to say it's got to stop. We've got to focus on jobs and the economy, and helping middle-class families get ahead. And if we do that, we're going to solve a whole lot of problems. (Applause.)

And as we're thinking about these issues, we can't get involved in short-term thinking. We can't have all the same old debates. That's not what the moment requires. We've got to focus on the core economic issues that matter to you. And as Washington is now preparing for another debate about the budget, the stakes could not be higher. If we don't make the investments America needs to make this country a magnet for good jobs, if we don't make investments in education and manufacturing and science and research and transportation and information networks, we will be waving the white flag while other countries forge ahead in a global economy. (Applause.) If we just stand by and do nothing, we're saying it’s okay for middle-class folks to keep taking it on the chin. And I don't think it's okay.

And that's why I came here to Warrensburg today. I need you involved in this debate to remind Washington what’s at stake. And over the next several weeks, in towns just like this one, I’m going to lay out my ideas for how we build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class, what it takes to work your way into the middle class -- a good job with good wages in durable, growing industries; a good education for our kids and our workers; a home to call your own; affordable health care that’s there for you when you or your family members get sick -- (applause) -- a secure retirement even if you’re not rich -- (applause) -- more ladders of opportunity for people who want to earn their way into the middle class as long as they're willing to work for it.

And what we need what we need is not a three-month plan, or even a three-year plan -- we need a long-term plan based on steady, persistent effort to reverse the forces that have conspired against middle-class families for decades. And I am confident -- I know -- there are members of both parties who understand what’s at stake.

So I welcome ideas from anybody across the political spectrum. But I’m not going to allow gridlock or inaction or willful indifference to get in this country’s way. We’ve got to get moving. (Applause.)

So where I can act on my own, I’m going to. I’m not going to wait for Congress. (Applause.) Because the choices that we make now aren’t just going to determine what happens to the young people here at this school, it’s going to determine what happens to your kids and your grandkids. So one thing I really want to focus on here, because UCM is doing some extraordinary things, I want to focus on just briefly that second cornerstone -- an education that prepares our kids and our workers for the global competition that you’ll face. That is why I wanted to highlight what’s happening here at the University of Central Missouri, because you guys are doing some things right. (Applause.)

In an age where business knows no borders, jobs are going to seek out the countries that have the most talented, skilled citizens, and those are the folks who are going to make a good living. The days when the wages for a worker with a high-school degree could keep pace with the earnings of somebody with a college degree -- those days are over. You can see it all throughout the Midwest, where you’ve got folks who a generation ago could just walk into a factory or a plant, didn’t have a lot of skills, get trained on the job, make a good living, live out a middle-class life. That’s not going to happen anymore. Technology, global competition -- those things are not going away.

So we can either throw up our hands and resign ourselves to lower living standards, or we can do what America has always done -- we can adapt, we can pull together, we can fight back, we can win. (Applause.) And if we don’t invest in American education, then we’re going to put our kids, our workers, our countries, our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. Because if you think it’s -- if you think education is expensive, you should see how much ignorance is going to cost in the 21st century. It’s going to be expensive. (Applause.)

So what do we need to do on education? Number one, it’s got to start in the earliest years. And that means working with states to make high-quality preschool available for every four-year-old in America. (Applause.) Every study shows this is a smart investment, encourages healthy behaviors, increases our kids’ success in the classroom, increases their earning power as they grow up, reduces rates of teen pregnancy, reduces criminal behavior. It’s really important. And any working parent will tell you that knowing your kid is in a safe place to learn is a big relief, so it’s also important for the parents.

This idea of early childhood education, it shouldn’t be partisan. States with Republican governors are doing it just like a lot of Democratic governors are doing it. Our kids don’t care about politics. We should prove that we care about them and make this thing happen. And I am going to keep on pushing, as long as I am President, until we have a situation where every kid is getting a good, healthy start in life and are prepared when they go to school. (Applause.)

We’re going to take action on proven ideas to upgrade our schools that don’t require Congress. So for example, last month, I announced a goal of connecting 99 percent of America’s students to high-speed Internet within five years. We’re going ahead and taking steps for that to happen right now. Now, some of you may have gone to schools where you had internet in every classroom, but a lot of schools right now, they’ve got maybe a computer lab, but if you go in the classroom, kids, they don’t have it. In America, in this country, every child at every desk should have access to the entire world’s information, and every teacher should have the cutting-edge technology to help their kids succeed and learn. We’re going to make that happen. (Applause.)

We’ve got to rethink our high schools so that our kids graduate with the real-world skills that this new age demands. We’ve got to reward the schools that forge partnerships with local colleges and businesses, and that focus on the fields of the future like science and technology and math and engineering.

And I’m going to use the power of my office over the next few months to highlight a topic that affects probably everybody here, and that is the soaring cost of higher education. (Applause.)

Now, three years ago, I worked with Democrats to reform the student loan system so that taxpayer dollars weren’t going to pad the pockets of big banks, and instead were going to help students get a college education. So millions of students were helped by that. We took action to cap loan repayments at 10 percent of monthly incomes for responsible borrowers. A lot of young people don’t know this, but if you’ve taken out federal loans, then if you choose a job, let’s say, that doesn’t pay as much as you’d like or you deserve, if you’re a teacher or some other profession, you only have to pay 10 percent of your income, which means that you can afford to go to college and know that you’re not going to be broke when you graduate -- which is important. And not enough young people are using this. (Applause.)

As we speak -- and then, as we speak, we're working with both parties to reverse the doubling of student loan rates that happened a few weeks ago because Congress didn’t get its act together. We've got to get student loan rates -- interest rates back down. (Applause.)

So these are all good steps, but here's the problem -- and this is where what's happening at University of Central Missouri is so important. We can put more and more money into student loans, we can put more and more money into grants, but if college costs keep on going up, then there's never going to be enough money. I can keep student loan rates low, but if you're borrowing $80,000 for college, or $100,000 and you get out, it doesn’t matter whether interest rate is 3.5 or 8.5, you're still going to have trouble repaying it. It'll take you longer to buy a house. If you've got an idea for a business, it's going to take you longer to invest in starting your business.

So we've got to do something about college costs. Families and taxpayers can’t just keep paying more and more into an undisciplined system. We’ve got to get a better bang for our buck. (Applause.) So states have to do their part by prioritizing higher education in their budgets -- (applause) -- because part of the reason tuition has been skyrocketing is colleges aren't -- state-funded colleges aren't getting as much funding, and so then tuition is going up on the backs of students and families. But we've also got to test new ways of funding based not just on how many students enroll, but how well they do. And colleges have to do their part by keeping costs from going up.

So here at Central Missouri, you are a laboratory for this kind of innovation. I had a great discussion with not only the president of this university but also the superintendent of schools here, the head of the community colleges. What's happened at UCM is you've partnered with the Lee’s Summit School District, with the Metropolitan Community College, with local health care, engineering, energy, and infrastructure firms -- all industries that are going to drive job growth in the future -- and everybody is now working together to equip students with better skills, allow them to graduate faster with less debt, and with the certainty of being able to get a job at the other end. (Applause.) That's a recipe for success over the long term.

So we've got students at Summit Technology Academy -- (applause) -- there we go. Those students, they're beginning to accrue credits towards an associate’s degree while they’re still in high school, which means they can come here to earn a bachelor’s degree in two years and graduate debt free. (Applause.) Debt free, on a fast track. (Applause.)

And because the community colleges and industries are involved, students are making quicker decisions about the industries that are going to create jobs, and the businesses are helping to design the programs to make sure that they have the skills for those jobs so that not only are you graduating debt free, but you also know that you've got a job waiting for you on the other end. (Applause.)

Now, that is exactly the kind of innovation we need when it comes to college costs. That’s what's happening right here in Warrensburg. And I want the entire country to notice it, and I want other colleges to take a look at what's being done here. And I’ve asked my team to shake the trees all across the country for some of the best ideas out there for keeping college costs down, so that as students prepare to go back to school, I’m in a position to lay out what’s going to be an aggressive strategy to shake up the system to make sure that middle-class students, working-class students, poor kids who have the drive and the wherewithal and want to get a good college education, they can get it without basically mortgaging their entire future. We can make this happen but this is an example of the kind of thing we’ve got to focus on instead of a bunch of distractions in Washington. (Applause.)

Tackling college costs, creating more good jobs, establishing a better bargain for middle-class families and everybody trying to work to join into it, an economy that grows not from the top down but from the middle out -- that’s not just what I’m going to focus on for the next few months, that’s what I’m going to be focused on for the remainder of my presidency. And I’m going to take these plans all across the country, and I’m going to ask folks for help because, frankly, sometimes I just can’t wait for Congress. It just takes them a long time to decide on stuff. (Applause.)

So we’re going to reach out to CEOs and we’re going to reach out to workers, and we’re going to reach out to college presidents and we’re going to reach out to students. We’ll talk to Democrats and independents -- and, yes, I will be asking Republicans to get involved because this has to be our core project for the next decade.

I want to lay out my ideas to give the middle class a better shot in the 21st century. And look, I want Republicans to lay out their ideas. If they’ve got a better idea to bring down college costs that we haven’t thought of, let’s hear them. I’m ready to go. If they’ve got a better plan to make sure that every American knows the security of affordable health care, then please share it with the class. Raise your hand. (Applause.) But what you can’t do is just manufacture another crisis because you think it might be good politics, just as our economy is getting some traction. What you can’t do is shut down our government just because I’m for opening the government. (Applause.) You can’t threaten not to pay the bills this country racked up or to cut investments in education and science and basic research that are going to help us grow.

If we’re going to manage deficits and debt, let’s do it in a sensible way. We can do this if we work together. And it may seem hard right now, but if we’re willing to take a few bold steps -- if Washington will just shake off its complacency, set aside the kind of slash-and-burn partisanship that we’ve seen over the past few years -- I promise you, our economy will be stronger a year from now, just like it’s stronger now than it was last year. And then it will be stronger five years from now, and then it will be stronger 10 years from now. (Applause.) And more Americans will have the pride of a first paycheck. And more Americans will have the satisfaction of starting their own business and flipping that sign that says “open”. More folks will have the thrill of marching across the stage to earn a diploma from a university like this, and then know that they’ve got a job waiting for them when they graduate.

What makes us special -- a lot of times we talk about American exceptionalism and how much we love this country, and there are so many wonderful things about our country. But what makes us the envy of the world has not just been our ability to generate incredible wealth for a few people; it’s the fact that we’ve given everybody a chance to pursue their own true measure of happiness. (Applause.) That’s who we are.

We haven’t just wanted success for ourselves; we want it for our neighbors. We want it for our neighborhoods. That’s why we don’t call it Bob’s dream or Barbara’s dream or Barack’s dream -- we call it the American Dream. (Applause.) It’s one that we share. That's who we are -- the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, who you love, you can make it here in America if you’re trying hard. (Applause.)

That’s what a college education can be all about. That’s what inspires your President, that’s what inspires the faculty. That’s why when we see young people like you, we’re inspired -- because you’re an expression of that idea. And we’ve got to make sure that that continues -- not just for this generation, but for the next generation.

And I’ve got a hundred -- I’ve got 1,267 days left in my presidency. And I’m going to spend every minute, every second, as long as I have the privilege of being in this office, making sure that I am doing every single thing that I can so that middle-class families, working families, people who are out there struggling every single day -- that they know that that work can lead them to a better place. And we’re going to make sure that that American Dream is available for everybody, not just now, but in the future. (Applause.)

So thank you, Missouri. Thank you, UCM. Thank you, Mules. Thank you, Jennies. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Let’s get to work. (Applause.)

END
5:41 P.M. CDT

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 24, 2013

Remarks by the President on the Economy -- Knox College, Galesburg, IL

Knox College
Galesburg, Illinois

12:13 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Galesburg! (Applause.) Well, it’s good to be home in Illinois! (Applause.) It is good to be back. It’s good to be back. Thank you. Thank you so much, everybody. (Applause.) Thank you. Everybody, have a seat, have a seat. Well, it is good to be back.

I want to, first of all, thank Knox College -- (applause) -- I want to thank Knox College and your president, Teresa Amott, for having me here today. Give Teresa a big round of applause. (Applause.)   I want to thank your Congresswoman, Cheri Bustos, who’s here. (Applause.) We've got Governor Quinn here. (Applause.) I'm told we've got your Lieutenant Governor, Sheila Simon, is here. (Applause.) There she is. Attorney General Lisa Madigan is here. (Applause.)

I see a bunch of my former colleagues, some folks who I haven't seen in years and I'm looking forward to saying hi to. One in particular I've got to mention, one of my favorites from the Illinois Senate -- John Sullivan is in the house. (Applause.) John was one of my earliest supporters when I was running for the U.S. Senate, and it came in really handy because he’s got, like, 10 brothers and sisters, and his wife has got 10 brothers and sisters -- (laughter) -- so they’ve got this entire precinct just in their family. (Laughter.) And they all look like John -- the brothers do -- so he doesn’t have to go to every event. He can just send one of his brothers out. (Laughter.) It is good to see him.

Dick Durbin couldn’t make it today, but he sends his best. And we love Dick. (Applause.) He’s doing a great job. And we’ve got one of my favorite neighbors, the Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, in the house, because we’re going to Missouri later this afternoon. (Applause.)

And all of you are here, and it’s great to see you. (Applause.) And I hope everybody is having a wonderful summer. The weather is perfect. Whoever was in charge of that, good job. (Laughter.)

So, eight years ago, I came here to deliver the commencement address for the class of 2005. Things were a little different back then. For example, I had no gray hair -- (laughter) -- or a motorcade. Didn’t even have a prompter. In fact, there was a problem in terms of printing out the speech because the printer didn’t work here and we had to drive it in from somewhere. (Laughter.) But it was my first big speech as your newest senator.

And on the way here I was telling Cheri and Claire about how important this area was, one of the areas that I spent the most time in outside of Chicago, and how much it represented what’s best in America and folks who were willing to work hard and do right by their families. And I came here to talk about what a changing economy was doing to the middle class -- and what we, as a country, needed to do to give every American a chance to get ahead in the 21st century.

See, I had just spent a year traveling the state and listening to your stories -- of proud Maytag workers losing their jobs when the plant moved down to Mexico. (Applause.) A lot of folks here remember that. Of teachers whose salaries weren’t keeping up with the rising cost of groceries. (Applause.) Of young people who had the drive and the energy, but not the money to afford a college education. (Applause.)

So these were stories of families who had worked hard, believed in the American Dream, but they felt like the odds were increasingly stacked against them. And they were right. Things had changed.

In the period after World War II, a growing middle class was the engine of our prosperity. Whether you owned a company, or swept its floors, or worked anywhere in between, this country offered you a basic bargain -- a sense that your hard work would be rewarded with fair wages and decent benefits, the chance to buy a home, to save for retirement, and most of all, a chance to hand down a better life for your kids.

But over time, that engine began to stall -- and a lot of folks here saw it -- that bargain began to fray. Technology made some jobs obsolete. Global competition sent a lot of jobs overseas. It became harder for unions to fight for the middle class. Washington doled out bigger tax cuts to the very wealthy and smaller minimum wage increases for the working poor.

And so what happened was that the link between higher productivity and people’s wages and salaries was broken. It used to be that, as companies did better, as profits went higher, workers also got a better deal. And that started changing. So the income of the top 1 percent nearly quadrupled from 1979 to 2007, but the typical family’s incomes barely budged.

And towards the end of those three decades, a housing bubble, credit cards, a churning financial sector was keeping the economy artificially juiced up, so sometimes it papered over some of these long-term trends. But by the time I took office in 2009 as your President, we all know the bubble had burst, and it cost millions of Americans their jobs, and their homes, and their savings. And I know a lot of folks in this area were hurt pretty bad. And the decades-long erosion that had been taking place -- the erosion of middle-class security -- was suddenly laid bare for everybody to see.

Now, today, five years after the start of that Great Recession, America has fought its way back. (Applause.) We fought our way back. Together, we saved the auto industry; took on a broken health care system. (Applause.) We invested in new American technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil. We doubled wind and solar power. (Applause.) Together, we put in place tough new rules on the big banks, and protections to crack down on the worst practices of mortgage lenders and credit card companies. (Applause.) We changed a tax code too skewed in favor of the wealthiest at the expense of working families -- so we changed that, and we locked in tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans, and we asked those at the top to pay a little bit more. (Applause.)

So you add it all up, and over the past 40 months, our businesses have created 7.2 million new jobs. This year, we’re off to our strongest private sector job growth since 1999.

And because we bet on this country, suddenly foreign companies are, too. Right now, more of Honda’s cars are made in America than anyplace else on Earth. (Applause.) Airbus, the European aircraft company, they’re building new planes in Alabama. (Applause.) And American companies like Ford are replacing outsourcing with insourcing -- they’re bringing jobs back home. (Applause.)

We sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. We produce more natural gas than any country on Earth. We’re about to produce more of our own oil than we buy from abroad for the first time in nearly 20 years. (Applause.) The cost of health care is growing at its slowest rate in 50 years. (Applause.) And our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years. (Applause.)

So thanks to the grit and resilience and determination of the American people -- of folks like you -- we’ve been able to clear away the rubble from the financial crisis. We started to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth. And it's happening in our own personal lives as well, right? A lot of us tightened our belts, shed debt, maybe cut up a couple of credit cards, refocused on those things that really matter.

As a country, we’ve recovered faster and gone further than most other advanced nations in the world. With new American revolutions in energy and technology and manufacturing and health care, we're actually poised to reverse the forces that battered the middle class for so long, and start building an economy where everyone who works hard can get ahead.

But -- and here's the big “but” -- I’m here to tell you today that we're not there yet. We all know that. We're not there yet. We've got more work to do. Even though our businesses are creating new jobs and have broken record profits, nearly all the income gains of the past 10 years have continued to flow to the top 1 percent. The average CEO has gotten a raise of nearly 40 percent since 2009. The average American earns less than he or she did in 1999. And companies continue to hold back on hiring those who’ve been out of work for some time.

Today, more students are earning their degree, but soaring costs saddle them with unsustainable debt. Health care costs are slowing down, but a lot of working families haven’t seen any of those savings yet. The stock market rebound helped a lot of families get back much of what they had lost in their 401(k)s, but millions of Americans still have no idea how they’re going to be able to retire.

So in many ways, the trends that I spoke about here in 2005 -- eight years ago -- the trend of a winner-take-all economy where a few are doing better and better and better, while everybody else just treads water -- those trends have been made worse by the recession. And that's a problem.

This growing inequality not just of result, inequality of opportunity -- this growing inequality is not just morally wrong, it’s bad economics. Because when middle-class families have less to spend, guess what, businesses have fewer consumers. When wealth concentrates at the very top, it can inflate unstable bubbles that threaten the economy. When the rungs on the ladder of opportunity grow farther and farther apart, it undermines the very essence of America -- that idea that if you work hard you can make it here.

And that’s why reversing these trends has to be Washington’s highest priority. (Applause.) It has to be Washington's highest priority. (Applause.) It’s certainly my highest priority. (Applause.)

Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, in particular, Washington hasn’t just ignored this problem; too often, Washington has made things worse. (Applause.)

And I have to say that -- because I'm looking around the room -- I've got some friends here not just who are Democrats, I've got some friends here who are Republicans -- (applause) -- and I worked with in the state legislature and they did great work. But right now, what we’ve got in Washington, we've seen a sizable group of Republican lawmakers suggest that they wouldn’t vote to pay the very bills that Congress rang up. And that fiasco harmed a fragile recovery in 2011 and we can't afford to repeat that.

Then, rather than reduce our deficits with a scalpel -- by cutting out programs we don’t need, fixing ones that we do need that maybe are in need of reform, making government more efficient -- instead of doing that, we've got folks who’ve insisted on leaving in place a meat cleaver called the sequester that's cost jobs. It's harmed growth. It's hurt our military. It's gutted investments in education and science and medical research. (Applause.)

Almost every credible economist will tell you it's been a huge drag on this recovery. And it means that we're underinvesting in the things that this country needs to make it a magnet for good jobs.

Then, over the last six months, this gridlock has gotten worse. I didn't think that was possible. (Laughter.) The good news is a growing number of Republican senators are looking to join their Democratic counterparts and try to get things done in the Senate. So that's good news. (Applause.) For example, they worked together on an immigration bill that economists say will boost our economy by more than a trillion dollars, strengthen border security, make the system work.

But you've got a faction of Republicans in the House who won’t even give that bill a vote. And that same group gutted a farm bill that America’s farmers depend on, but also America's most vulnerable children depend on.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Booo --

THE PRESIDENT: And if you ask some of these folks, some of these folks mostly in the House, about their economic agenda how it is that they'll strengthen the middle class, they’ll shift the topic to “out-of-control government spending” –- despite the fact that we've cut the deficit by nearly half as a share of the economy since I took office. (Applause.)

Or they’ll talk about government assistance for the poor, despite the fact that they’ve already cut early education for vulnerable kids. They've already cut insurance for people who’ve lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Or they’ll bring up Obamacare -- this is tried and true -- despite the fact that our businesses have created nearly twice as many jobs in this recovery as businesses had at the same point in the last recovery when there was no Obamacare. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: My daughter has insurance now!

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate that. (Applause.) That’s what this is about. That’s what this is about. (Applause.) That’s what we've been fighting for.

But with this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop. (Applause.) This needs to stop.

This moment does not require short-term thinking. It does not require having the same old stale debates. Our focus has to be on the basic economic issues that matter most to you, the people we represent. That’s what we have to spend our time on and our energy on and our focus on. (Applause.)

And as Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes for our middle class and everybody who is fighting to get into the middle class could not be higher. The countries that are passive in the face of a global economy, those countries will lose the competition for good jobs. They will lose the competition for high living standards. That’s why America has to make the investments necessary to promote long-term growth and shared prosperity -- rebuilding our manufacturing base, educating our workforce, upgrading our transportation systems, upgrading our information networks. (Applause.) That’s what we need to be talking about. That’s what Washington needs to be focused on.

And that’s why, over the next several weeks, in towns across this country, I will be engaging the American people in this debate. (Applause.) I'll lay out my ideas for how we build on the cornerstones of what it means to be middle class in America, and what it takes to work your way into the middle class in America: Job security, with good wages and durable industries. A good education.   A home to call your own. Affordable health care when you get sick. (Applause.) A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. Reducing poverty. Reducing inequality. Growing opportunity. That’s what we need. (Applause.) That’s what we need. That’s what we need right now. That’s what we need to be focused on. (Applause.)

Now, some of these ideas I’ve talked about before. Some of the ideas I offer will be new. Some will require Congress. Some I will pursue on my own. (Applause.) Some ideas will benefit folks right away. Some will take years to fully implement. But the key is to break through the tendency in Washington to just bounce from crisis to crisis. What we need is not a three-month plan, or even a three-year plan; we need a long-term American strategy, based on steady, persistent effort, to reverse the forces that have conspired against the middle class for decades. That has to be our project. (Applause.)

Now, of course, we’ll keep pressing on other key priorities. I want to get this immigration bill done. We still need to work on reducing gun violence. (Applause.) We’ve got to continue to end the war in Afghanistan, rebalance our fight against al Qaeda. (Applause.) We need to combat climate change. We’ve got to standing up for civil rights. We’ve got to stand up for women’s rights. (Applause.)

So all those issues are important, and we’ll be fighting on every one of those issues. But if we don’t have a growing, thriving middle class then we won’t have the resources to solve a lot of these problems. We won’t have the resolve, the optimism, the sense of unity that we need to solve many of these other issues.

Now, in this effort, I will look to work with Republicans as well as Democrats wherever I can. And I sincerely believe that there are members of both parties who understand this moment, understand what’s at stake, and I will welcome ideas from anybody across the political spectrum. But I will not allow gridlock, or inaction, or willful indifference to get in our way. (Applause.)

That means whatever executive authority I have to help the middle class, I’ll use it. (Applause.) Where I can’t act on my own and Congress isn’t cooperating, I’ll pick up the phone -- I’ll call CEOs; I’ll call philanthropists; I’ll call college presidents; I’ll call labor leaders. I’ll call anybody who can help -- and enlist them in our efforts. (Applause.)

Because the choices that we, the people, make right now will determine whether or not every American has a fighting chance in the 21st century. And it will lay the foundation for our children’s future, our grandchildren’s future, for all Americans.
So let me give you a quick preview of what I’ll be fighting for and why. The first cornerstone of a strong, growing middle class has to be, as I said before, an economy that generates more good jobs in durable, growing industries. That's how this area was built. That's how America prospered. Because anybody who was willing to work, they could go out there and they could find themselves a job, and they could build a life for themselves and their family.

Now, over the past four years, for the first time since the 1990s, the number of American manufacturing jobs has actually gone up instead of down. That's the good news. (Applause.) But we can do more. So I’m going to push new initiatives to help more manufacturers bring more jobs back to the United States. (Applause.) We’re going to continue to focus on strategies to make sure our tax code rewards companies that are not shipping jobs overseas, but creating jobs right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)

We want to make sure that -- we’re going to create strategies to make sure that good jobs in wind and solar and natural gas that are lowering costs and, at the same time, reducing dangerous carbon pollution happen right here in the United States. (Applause.)

And something that Cheri and I were talking about on the way over here -- I’m going to be pushing to open more manufacturing innovation institutes that turn regions left behind by global competition into global centers of cutting-edge jobs. So let’s tell the world that America is open for business. (Applause.) I know there’s an old site right here in Galesburg, over on Monmouth Boulevard -- let’s put some folks to work. (Applause.)

Tomorrow, I’ll also visit the Port of Jacksonville, Florida to offer new ideas for doing what America has always done best, which is building things. Pat and I were talking before I came -- backstage -- Pat Quinn -- he was talking about how I came over the Don Moffitt Bridge. (Applause.) But we’ve got work to do all across the country. We’ve got ports that aren’t ready for the new supertankers that are going to begin passing through the new Panama Canal in two years’ time. If we don’t get that done, those tankers are going to go someplace else. We’ve got more than 100,000 bridges that are old enough to qualify for Medicare. (Laughter and applause.)

Businesses depend on our transportation systems, on our power grids, on our communications networks. And rebuilding them creates good-paying jobs right now that can’t be outsourced. (Applause.)

And by the way, this isn’t a Democratic idea. Republicans built a lot of stuff. This is the Land of Lincoln. Lincoln was all about building stuff -- first Republican President. (Applause.) And yet, as a share of our economy, we invest less in our infrastructure than we did two decades ago. And that’s inefficient at a time when it’s as cheap as it’s been since the 1950s to build things. It’s inexcusable at a time when so many of the workers who build stuff for a living are sitting at home waiting for a call.

The longer we put this off, the more expensive it will be and the less competitive we will be. Businesses of tomorrow will not locate near old roads and outdated ports. They’ll relocate to places with high-speed Internet, and high-tech schools, and systems that move air and auto traffic faster, and not to mention will get parents home quicker from work because we’ll be eliminating some of these traffic jams. And we can watch all of that happen in other countries, and start falling behind, or we can choose to make it happen right here, in the United States. (Applause.)

In an age when jobs know no borders, companies are also going to seek out the countries that boast the most talented citizens, and they’ll reward folks who have the skills and the talents they need -- they’ll reward those folks with good pay.

The days when the wages for a worker with a high school degree could keep pace with the earnings of somebody who got some sort of higher education -- those days are over. Everybody here knows that. There are a whole bunch of folks here whose dads or grandpas worked at a plant, didn’t need a high school education. You could just go there. If you were willing to work hard, you might be able to get two jobs. And you could support your family, have a vacation, own your home. But technology and global competition, they’re not going away. Those old days aren’t coming back.

So we can either throw up our hands and resign ourselves to diminishing living standards, or we can do what America has always done, which is adapt, and pull together, and fight back, and win. That’s what we have to do. (Applause.)

And that brings me to the second cornerstone of a strong middle class -- and everybody here knows it -- an education that prepares our children and our workers for the global competition that they’re going to face. (Applause.) And if you think education is expensive, wait until you see how much ignorance costs in the 21st century. (Laughter and applause.)

If we don’t make this investment, we’re going to put our kids, our workers, and our country at a competitive disadvantage for decades. So we have to begin in the earliest years. And that’s why I’m going to keep pushing to make high-quality preschool available for every 4-year-old in America. (Applause.) Not just because we know it works for our kids, but because it provides a vital support system for working parents.

And I’m going to take action in the education area to spur innovation that don’t require Congress. (Applause.) So, today, for example, as we speak, federal agencies are moving on my plan to connect 99 percent of America’s students to high-speed Internet over the next five years. We’re making that happen right now. (Applause.) We’ve already begun meeting with business leaders and tech entrepreneurs and innovative educators to identify the best ideas for redesigning our high schools so that they teach the skills required for a high-tech economy.

And we’re also going to keep pushing new efforts to train workers for changing jobs. So here in Galesburg, for example, a lot of the workers that were laid off at Maytag chose to enroll in retraining programs like the one at Carl Sandburg College. (Applause.) And while it didn’t pay off for everyone, a lot of the folks who were retrained found jobs that suited them even better and paid even more than the ones they had lost.

And that’s why I’ve asked Congress to start a Community College to Career initiative, so that workers can earn the skills that high-tech jobs demand without leaving their hometown. (Applause.) And I’m going to challenge CEOs from some of America’s best companies to hire more Americans who’ve got what it takes to fill that job opening but have been laid off for so long that nobody is giving their résumé an honest look.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: More talent!

THE PRESIDENT: That, too.

I’m also going to use the power of my office over the next few months to highlight a topic that’s straining the budgets of just about every American family -- and that’s the soaring cost of higher education. (Applause.) Everybody is touched by this, including your President, who had a whole bunch of loans he had to pay off. (Laughter.)

Three years ago, I worked with Democrats to reform the student loan system so that taxpayer dollars stopped padding the pockets of big banks, and instead helped more kids afford college. (Applause.) Then, I capped loan repayments at 10 percent of monthly incomes for responsible borrowers, so that if somebody graduated and they decided to take a teaching job, for example, that didn’t pay a lot of money, they knew that they were never going to have to pay more than 10 percent of their income and they could afford to go into a profession that they loved. That’s in place right now. (Applause.) And this week, we’re working with both parties to reverse the doubling of student loan rates that happened a few weeks ago because of congressional inaction. (Applause.)

So this is all a good start -- but it isn’t enough. Families and taxpayers can’t just keep paying more and more and more into an undisciplined system where costs just keep on going up and up and up. We’ll never have enough loan money, we’ll never have enough grant money, to keep up with costs that are going up 5, 6, 7 percent a year. We’ve got to get more out of what we pay for.

Now, some colleges are testing new approaches to shorten the path to a degree, or blending teaching with online learning to help students master material and earn credits in less time. In some states, they’re testing new ways to fund college based not just on how many students enroll, but how many of them graduate, how well did they do.

So this afternoon, I’ll visit the University of Central Missouri to highlight their efforts to deliver more bang for the buck to their students. And in the coming months, I will lay out an aggressive strategy to shake up the system, tackle rising costs, and improve value for middle-class students and their families. It is critical that we make sure that college is affordable for every single American who’s willing to work for it. (Applause.)

Now, so you’ve got a good job; you get a good education -- those have always been the key stepping stones into the middle class. But a home of your own has always been the clearest expression of middle-class security. For most families, that’s your biggest asset. For most families, that’s where your life’s work has been invested. And that changed during the crisis, when we saw millions of middle-class families experience their home values plummeting. The good news is over the past four years, we’ve helped more responsible homeowners stay in their homes. And today, sales are up and prices are up, and fewer Americans see their homes underwater.

But we’re not done yet. The key now is to encourage homeownership that isn’t based on unrealistic bubbles, but instead is based on a solid foundation, where buyers and lenders play by the same set of rules, rules that are clear and transparent and fair.

So already, I’ve asked Congress to pass a really good, bipartisan idea -- one that was championed, by the way, by Mitt Romney’s economic advisor -- and this is the idea to give every homeowner the chance to refinance their mortgage while rates are still low so they can save thousands of dollars a year. (Applause.) It will be like a tax cut for families who can refinance.

I’m also acting on my own to cut red tape for responsible families who want to get a mortgage but the bank is saying no. We’ll work with both parties to turn the page on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and build a housing finance system that’s rock-solid for future generations.

So we’ve got more work to do to strengthen homeownership in this country. But along with homeownership, the fourth cornerstone of what it means to be middle class in this country is a secure retirement. (Applause.) I hear from too many people across the country, face to face or in letters that they send me, that they feel as if retirement is just receding from their grasp. It’s getting farther and farther away. They can't see it.

Now, today, a rising stock market has millions of retirement balances going up, and some of the losses that had taken place during the financial crisis have been recovered. But we still live with an upside-down system where those at the top, folks like me, get generous tax incentives to save, while tens of millions of hardworking Americans who are struggling, they get none of those breaks at all. So as we work to reform our tax code, we should find new ways to make it easier for workers to put away money, and free middle-class families from the fear that they won't be able to retire. (Applause.)

And if Congress is looking for a bipartisan place to get started, I should just say they don’t have to look far. We mentioned immigration reform before. Economists show that immigration reform makes undocumented workers pay their full share of taxes, and that actually shores up the Social Security system for years. So we should get that done. (Applause.)

Good job; good education for your kids; home of your own; secure retirement.

Fifth, I'm going to keep focusing on health care -- (applause) -- because middle-class families and small business owners deserve the security of knowing that neither an accident or an illness is going to threaten the dreams that you’ve worked a lifetime to build.

As we speak, we're well on our way to fully implementing the Affordable Care Act. (Applause.) We're going to implement it. Now, if you’re one of the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance either through the job or Medicare or Medicaid, you don’t have to do anything, but you do have new benefits and better protections than you did before. You may not know it, but you do. Free checkups, mammograms, discounted medicines if you're on Medicare -- that’s what the Affordable Care Act means. You're already getting a better deal. No lifetime limits.

If you don’t have health insurance, then starting on October 1st, private plans will actually compete for your business, and you'll be able to comparison-shop online. There will be a marketplace online, just like you’d buy a flat-screen TV or plane tickets or anything else you're doing online, and you'll be able to buy an insurance package that fits your budget and is right for you.

And if you're one of the up to half of all Americans who’ve been sick or have a preexisting condition -- if you look at this auditorium, about half of you probably have a preexisting condition that insurance companies could use to not give you insurance if you lost your job or lost your insurance -- well, this law means that beginning January 1st, insurance companies will finally have to cover you and charge you the same rates as everybody else, even if you have a preexisting condition. (Applause.) That’s what the Affordable Care Act does. That’s what it does. (Applause.)

Now, look, I know because I've been living it that there are folks out there who are actively working to make this law fail. And I don’t always understand exactly what their logic is here, why they think giving insurance to folks who don’t have it and making folks with insurance a little more secure, why they think that’s a bad thing. But despite the politically motivated misinformation campaign, the states that have committed themselves to making this law work are finding that competition and choice are actually pushing costs down.

So just last week, New York announced that premiums for consumers who buy their insurance in these online marketplaces will be at least 50 percent lower than what they're paying today -- 50 percent lower. (Applause.) So folks' premiums in the individual market will drop by 50 percent. And for them and for the millions of Americans who’ve been able to cover their sick kids for the first time -- like this gentlemen who just said his daughter has got health insurance -- or have been able to cover their employees more cheaply, or are able to have their kids who are younger than -- who are 25 or 26 stay on their parents' plan -- (applause) -- for all those folks, you'll have the security of knowing that everything you’ve worked hard for is no longer one illness away from being wiped out. (Applause.)

Finally, as we work to strengthen these cornerstones of middle-class security -- good job with decent wages and benefits, a good education, home of your own, retirement security, health care security -- I’m going to make the case for why we've got to rebuild ladders of opportunity for all those Americans who haven't quite made it yet -- who are working hard but are still suffering poverty wages, who are struggling to get full-time work. (Applause.)

There are a lot of folks who are still struggling out here, too many people in poverty. Here in America, we’ve never guaranteed success -- that's not what we do. More than some other countries, we expect people to be self-reliant. Nobody is going to do something for you. (Applause.) We've tolerated a little more inequality for the sake of a more dynamic, more adaptable economy. That's all for the good. But that idea has always been combined with a commitment to equality of opportunity to upward mobility -- the idea that no matter how poor you started, if you're willing to work hard and discipline yourself and defer gratification, you can make it, too. That's the American idea. (Applause.)

Unfortunately, opportunities for upward mobility in America have gotten harder to find over the past 30 years. And that’s a betrayal of the American idea. And that’s why we have to do a lot more to give every American the chance to work their way into the middle class.

The best defense against all of these forces -- global competition, economic polarization -- is the strength of the community. So we need a new push to rebuild rundown neighborhoods. (Applause.) We need new partnerships with some of the hardest-hit towns in America to get them back on their feet. And because no one who works full-time in America should have to live in poverty, I am going to keep making the case that we need to raise the minimum wage -- (applause) -- because it's lower right now than it was when Ronald Reagan took office. It's time for the minimum wage to go up. (Applause.)

We're not a people who allow chance of birth to decide life’s biggest winners or losers. And after years in which we’ve seen how easy it can be for any of us to fall on hard times -- folks in Galesburg, folks in the Quad Cities, you know there are good people who work hard and sometimes they get a bad break. A plant leaves. Somebody gets sick. Somebody loses a home. We've seen it in our family, in our friends and our neighbors. We've seen it happen. And that means we cannot turn our backs when bad breaks hit any of our fellow citizens.

So good jobs; a better bargain for the middle class and the folks who are working to get into the middle class; an economy that grows from the middle out, not the top down -- that's where I will focus my energies. (Applause.) That's where I will focus my energies not just for the next few months, but for the remainder of my presidency.

These are the plans that I'll lay out across this country. But I won’t be able to do it alone, so I'm going to be calling on all of us to take up this cause. We’ll need our businesses, who are some of the best in the world, to pressure Congress to invest in our future. And I’ll be asking our businesses to set an example by providing decent wages and salaries to their own employees. And I’m going to highlight the ones that do just that.

There are companies like Costco, which pays good wages and offers good benefits. (Applause.) Companies like -- there are companies like the Container Store, that prides itself on training its employees and on employee satisfaction -- because these companies prove that it’s not just good for the employees, it’s good for their businesses to treat workers well. It’s good for America. (Applause.)

So I’m going to be calling on the private sector to step up. I will be saying to Democrats we’ve got to question some of our old assumptions. We’ve got to be willing to redesign or get rid of programs that don't work as well as they should. (Applause.) We’ve got to be willing to -- we’ve got to embrace changes to cherished priorities so that they work better in this new age. We can't just -- Democrats can't just stand pat and just defend whatever government is doing. If we believe that government can give the middle class a fair shot in this new century -- and I believe that -- we’ve an obligation to prove it. And that means that we’ve got to be open to new ways of doing things.

And we’ll need Republicans in Congress to set aside short-term politics and work with me to find common ground. (Applause.)

It’s interesting, in the run-up to this speech, a lot of reporters say that, well, Mr. President, these are all good ideas, but some of you’ve said before; some of them sound great, but you can't get those through Congress. Republicans won’t agree with you. And I say, look, the fact is there are Republicans in Congress right now who privately agree with me on a lot of the ideas I’ll be proposing. I know because they’ve said so. But they worry they’ll face swift political retaliation for cooperating with me.

Now, there are others who will dismiss every idea I put forward either because they’re playing to their most strident supporters, or in some cases because, sincerely, they have a fundamentally different vision for America -- one that says inequality is both inevitable and just; one that says an unfettered free market without any restraints inevitably produces the best outcomes, regardless of the pain and uncertainty imposed on ordinary families; and government is the problem and we should just shrink it as small as we can.

In either case, I say to these members of Congress: I’m laying out my ideas to give the middle class a better shot. So now it’s time for you to lay out your ideas. (Applause.) You can't just be against something. You got to be for something. (Applause.)

Even if you think I’ve done everything wrong, the trends I just talked about were happening well before I took office. So it’s not enough for you just to oppose me. You got to be for something. What are your ideas? If you’re willing to work with me to strengthen American manufacturing and rebuild this country’s infrastructure, let’s go. If you’ve got better ideas to bring down the cost of college for working families, let’s hear them. If you think you have a better plan for making sure that every American has the security of quality, affordable health care, then stop taking meaningless repeal votes, and share your concrete ideas with the country. (Applause.)

Repealing Obamacare and cutting spending is not an economic plan. It’s not.

If you’re serious about a balanced, long-term fiscal plan that replaces the mindless cuts currently in place, or if you’re interested in tax reform that closes corporate loopholes and gives working families a better deal, I’m ready to work. (Applause.) But you should know that I will not accept deals that don’t meet the basic test of strengthening the prospects of hardworking families. This is the agenda we have to be working on. (Applause.)

We’ve come a long way since I first took office. (Applause.) As a country, we’re older and wiser. I don’t know if I’m wiser, but I’m certainly older. (Laughter.) And as long as Congress doesn’t manufacture another crisis -- as long as we don’t shut down the government just because I’m for keeping it open -- (laughter) -- as long as we don’t risk a U.S. default over paying bills that we’ve already racked up, something that we’ve never done -- we can probably muddle along without taking bold action. If we stand pat and we don’t do any of the things I talked about, our economy will grow, although slower than it should. New businesses will form. The unemployment rate will probably tick down a little bit. Just by virtue of our size and our natural resources and, most of all, because of the talent of our people, America will remain a world power, and the majority of us will figure out how to get by.

But you know what, that’s our choice. If we just stand by and do nothing in the face of immense change, understand that part of our character will be lost. Our founding precepts about wide-open opportunity, each generation doing better than the last -- that will be a myth, not reality. The position of the middle class will erode further. Inequality will continue to increase. Money’s power will distort our politics even more.

Social tensions will rise, as various groups fight to hold on to what they have, or start blaming somebody else for why their position isn’t improving. And the fundamental optimism that’s always propelled us forward will give way to cynicism or nostalgia.

And that’s not the vision I have for this country. It’s not the vision you have for this country. That’s not the America we know. That’s not the vision we should be settling for. That’s not a vision we should be passing on to our children.

I have now run my last campaign. I do not intend to wait until the next campaign or the next President before tackling the issues that matter. I care about one thing and one thing only, and that’s how to use every minute -- (applause) -- the only thing I care about is how to use every minute of the remaining 1,276 days of my term -- (laughter) -- to make this country work for working Americans again. (Applause.) That’s all I care about. I don’t have another election. (Applause.)

Because I’ll tell you, Galesburg, that’s where I believe America needs to go. I believe that’s where the American people want to go. And it may seem hard today, but if we’re willing to take a few bold steps -- if Washington will just shake off its complacency and set aside the kind of slash-and-burn partisanship that we’ve just seen for way too long -- if we just make some common-sense decisions, our economy will be stronger a year from now. It will be stronger five years from now. It will be stronger 10 years from now. (Applause.)

If we focus on what matters, then more Americans will know the pride of that first paycheck. More Americans will have the satisfaction of flipping the sign to “Open” on their own business. More Americans will have the joy of scratching the height of their kid on that door of their brand-new home. (Applause.)

And in the end, isn't that what makes us special? It's not the ability to generate incredible wealth for the few; it's our ability to give everybody a chance to pursue their own true measure of happiness. (Applause.) We haven’t just wanted success for ourselves -- we want it for our neighbors, too. (Applause.)

When we think about our own communities -- we're not a mean people; we're not a selfish people; we're not a people that just looks out for “number one.” Why should our politics reflect those kinds of values? That’s why we don’t call it John’s dream or Susie’s dream or Barack’s dream or Pat's dream -- we call it the American Dream. And that’s what makes this country special -- the idea that no matter who you are or what you look like or where you come from or who you love, you can make it if you try. (Applause.) That’s what we're fighting for.

So, yes, Congress is tough right now, but that’s not going to stop me. We're going to do everything we can, wherever we can, with or without Congress, to make things happen. We're going to go on the road and talk to you, and you'll have ideas, and we want to see which ones we can implement. But we're going to focus on this thing that matters.

One of America’s greatest writers, Carl Sandburg, born right here in Galesburg over a century ago -- (applause) -- he saw the railroads bring the world to the prairie, and then the prairie sent out its bounty to the world. And he saw the advent of new industries, new technologies, and he watched populations shift. He saw fortunes made and lost. And he saw how change could be painful -- how a new age could unsettle long-held customs and ways of life. But he had that frontier optimism, and so he saw something more on the horizon. And he wrote, “I speak of new cities and new people. The past is a bucket of ashes. Yesterday is a wind gone down, a sun dropped in the west. There is only an ocean of tomorrows, a sky of tomorrows.”

Well, America, we’ve made it through the worst of yesterday’s winds. We just have to have the courage to keep moving forward. We've got to set our eyes on the horizon. We will find an ocean of tomorrows. We will find a sky of tomorrows for the American people and for this great country that we love.

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

END
1:17 P.M. CDT

The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release

July 24, 2013

Remarks by Vice President Joe Biden on the U.S.-India Partnership at the Bombay Stock Exchange

The Bombay Stock Exchange
Mumbai, India

1:40 P.M. IST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Kaku. I appreciate it.

Thank you all for giving me this opportunity. It’s an honor to be back in India and to be here in Mumbai. Off script for a second here, I was reminded -- I was elected to the United States Senate when I was a 29-year-old kid back in 1972, and one of the first letters I received and I regret I never followed up on it. Maybe some genealogist in audience can follow up for me, but I received a letter from a gentleman named Biden -- Biden, my name -- from Mumbai, asserting that we were related. (Laughter.) Seriously. Suggesting that our mutual, great, great, great, something or other worked for the East India Trading Company back in the 1700s and came to Mumbai.

And so I was thinking about it, if that's true, I might run here in India for office. (Laughter.) I might be qualified. But I’ve never followed up on it. But now that I’m back for the multiple times, I’m going to follow up to find out whether there is a Biden and whether we’re related. I hope he’s in good standing if we are. (Laughter.)

I want to thank you for the kind welcome, Kaku, and the nice introduction. I’m delighted to be in Mumbai, a city full of history and dreams and incredible energy. I bring with me the admiration of the American people and the good wishes of President Obama.

We admire the way you’ve melded ethnicities, faiths and tongues into a single, proud nation; the way entrepreneurship seems almost hard-wired into Indian society, from rickshaw wallas to web programmers; and maybe most of all, we admire your democracy and the message that your democracy sends to people everywhere in the world. And that message is: No nation need choose between development and freedom. They are not inconsistent.

America is a land of immigrants, as we tell ourselves all the time and are reminded in every generation. And America has been strengthened by the diverse cultures of India woven into the fabric of most of our communities, including those of you who are Americans my own the small community in the state of Delaware that I represented in the United States Senate.

Any weekend in Delaware -- we have a very significant and tight Indian-American community -- any weekend in Delaware, you can find the Delaware United Cricket Club competing. And now I have bragging rights. I will be able to go back and tell my friends who belong to that club that I visited the home of the best cricket team in the world. It will give me some reason to -- (applause). You won the International Cricket Council Championship.

And as an Irish American, it pleased my heart to see you beat Britain, England. (Laughter.) That's a joke, by the way, for the press. (Laughter.) I don't want to hear a headline: Biden at Odds with British Empire, you know? (Laughter.) But it does make me feel good. (Laughter.)

India has made a very impressive journey to state the obvious. Twenty-two years ago, you took bold steps to start opening your economy. And the results were almost immediate, and they were remarkable. Over the past decade, you have lifted 160 million people into the middle class. In 1991, India had 5 million total phone lines; now you have 900 million. In 1991, you exported $20 billion in goods each year. Now that's over $300 billion. India is no longer an economic island -- and a rising, rising economic power.

Of course, obstacles remain as in our country and every country. But here in India growth has slowed. Poverty persists. And there are significant challenges in the region and the world in which you reside.

But we’re confident, presumptuous of us to say this, but we Americans are confident that India will continue to rise because we believe you will make the -- take the additional steps necessary to spur further growth and enhance your economic influence around the world, and in the process lift the whole world. We want to be your partner in that venture, in lifting the economy of the world.

And since we’re at a former stock exchange, let me humbly suggest that America is back, and it’s has never been a good bet to bet against America –- never been a good bet to bet against America.

We’ve had the biggest increase in domestic manufacturing in the past 20 years; 40 months of private sector job growth -- we need more and more rapidly, but constant growth. We are now the recipients and we have access to and know how to safely extract over 100 years of natural gas reserves, driving the price of energy down to the -- in the United States to make us among the most competitive nations in the world for manufacturing.

In addition to that, we will be a net energy exporter. We will be energy independent during the ‘20s -- the decade of the ‘20s, 2020.

The foundations of our economy are stronger than ever. The best research universities in the world –- you have great ones, we have the most -- and the most vibrant startups; a culture of innovation and openness.

For all the problems of our education system, and every country has it, and we have our own, particularly in elementary education, the one thing that is constant in America from the time a child steps into any classroom from kindergarten to first grade, they are taught that it is okay to question orthodoxy, to challenge the status quo.

So I believe that each of our economies will continue to grow and in the process help shape the course of the century ahead, the 21st century.

If you excuse me quoting an Irishman, but a fellow named William Butler Yeats, my favorite poet, writing a poem about his Ireland in the year 1916, called Easter Sunday 1916, something Indians and Irishmen hold in common, trying to rise with the British. It was the first rebellion in Ireland in the 20th century. And he wrote that poem called Easter Sunday 1916. And in that poem there’s a line that he attempted to describe his Ireland at the time, but I would argue it better describes the state of the world as we find it today.

He said, all’s changed; changed utterly. A terrible beauty has been born. All’s changed, changed utterly. The world has changed utterly just since I entered public life, and matter of fact, in the last 20 years. And there’s a need for new rules of the road -- both strategically and economically.

But I would ask you -– I would ask you, as we continue to grow separately -- I would ask you to consider the historic opportunity that is in front of us. Imagine what our two countries can achieve together in this 21st century -- not only for one another but for economic stability of the region, as well as the world.

It seems to me there are certain basic principles in the way forward that are clear: a trade and investment partnership that is open and fair; that grows both our economies as India builds the largest middle class in human history; a security partnership of first resort where we look instinctively to each other to help the Asia-Pacific region to rise -- continue to peacefully; closer ties than ever between our citizens, universities, civil societies and businesses; a partnership defined not by what it promises, but defined by what it delivers.

We’ve made headway. We’ve launched an annual dialogue between our governments that covers everything from counterterrorism to higher education. As a matter of fact at a dinner hosted by the Vice President last night, very generous of him, we were talking in great detail granularly about community colleges and what future they hold for here in India. My wife is full-time community college professor, has been teaching -- I can't say the number of years now because it reveals her age, but for some time.

In the Biden family there’s a strange thing, there is no woman as old as any man. I don't know how that happened, but that's the way it works in my family. (Laughter.)

But as we say in America, the best-kept secret in American education is the community college system. And it’s a bold and I think wise move India is taking to try to create hundreds and hundreds of community colleges.

We’ve also made progress on clean energy, defense cooperation, the partnerships between our universities and community colleges. But there remains a gap between what we are doing and what we are capable of without in any way impacting on either of our countries’ sovereign decisions, without in any way compromising either of our countries’ ability to independently decide what course of action we should take on individual issues and the future generally.

And the reasons are understandable why they're still -- we haven’t made more progress. In your country as well as mine, there are still those -- some who have lingering doubts of a Cold War era long gone by. It’s time to put those doubts behind us and seize the opportunities ahead of us. Leaders -— not bureaucracies -— should set the level of our ambition.

So let me state it plainly: There is no contradiction between strategic autonomy and a strategic partnership. I’ll say it again: There is no contradiction between strategic autonomy and a strategic partnership. Global powers are capable of both.

And it’s time we take this relationship to a new level for each of our own well-being. The question is how do we bridge the gap between this vision and the present reality? You are all practical businesswomen and men. You know ultimately it’s how do you operationalize a vision.

I’d respectfully suggest that we begin by deepening our economic relationship to help accomplish our overarching individual domestic goals. They are similar. They are common.

And our vision and our interest as you look down five, 10 and 20 years, I can see no logical impediment to the development of this relationship in terms of our individual self-interest.

Today, as I speak –- well, not as I speak, but shortly, President Obama is going to be giving a major speech outlining the top priority for the Obama-Biden administration And it’s straightforward and simple, how do we continue to shore up America’s future and the foundations of the middle class life in America with good-paying jobs, affordable health care, housing, education and the dignity in retirement.

India’s top priority is to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty to join the middle class -- totally consistent goals. Together, in our view, we can help each other achieve our core goals. And we’ve made a good start.

In the last 13 years, we’ve increased fivefold our bilateral trade, reaching nearly $100 billion. There’s not a one of you sitting out there that knows there is any logical impediment as to why that could not be fivefold that number.

There’s no reason, if our countries make the right choices, that we can’t grow together and more rapidly.

The United States is negotiating major new trade agreements across both the Atlantic and the Pacific -- so called TTIP in the Pacific (sic) -- and here in the Pacific, an agreement that would encompass not only the Pacific Basin all the way to the Indian Ocean, but also America and the entire hemisphere. I recently went on a journey to Latin America and South America. Chile, other countries are looking forward to this Trans-Pacific Partnership. Not only to expand, but to enhance economic stability and in turn domestic stability.

Expanding trade between India and the United States can and should be a central part of this story. But that requires us to be candid with each other about the obstacles that exist when it comes to a business environment: protection of intellectual property; requirements that companies buy local content; limits on foreign direct investment; inconsistent tax treatment; barriers to market access. These are tough problems. But we all know they have to be negotiated and worked through in order to meet the potential of this relationship. Not just with us, but with other countries as well. This instinct to protect your industries is fully comprehensible and easy to understand.

India has 600 million people under the age of 25 with unlimited capabilities, but in some cases limited horizons. Your businesses are seeking any competitive edge they find, and why shouldn’t they?

But I believe recent history of other developing countries and developed countries shows there is a better way to grow and strengthen your economy, although it takes some bold decisions.

A young Indian woman graduating from IIT Bombay who wants to start the next Tata Motors should be able to buy the best technology and parts, wherever in the world they come from -— as her competitors around the world are able to do.

An Indian medical student with a brilliant idea for a life-saving medical device should know that his intellectual property will be protected and rewarded because that gives him the financial incentive and the intellectual motivation to continue to move forward.

Hundreds of millions of Indian consumers deserve access to the most affordable and reliable products to better their standard of living. Now, look, I understand -– believe me –- how making even the most modest of changes of opening your markets impacts on interest groups. It happens in my country, and it clearly happens in yours.

But you have an extraordinary opportunity to unleash the immense talents of the people of India in the global economy -— and power India’s growth for decades to come. It is not easy. I am not -- I am a public official. I’ve been doing this my entire adult life. These are difficult decisions to make. It’s a little bit like, as my mother used to say, you got to take your medicine in order to be healthy -- a homely metaphor, but the truth of the matter is, they're difficult.

But the choices are not ours to make, they're India’s to make. We could both do fine without one another. We are not here -- I am not here, the President didn't ask me to come here to lecture, to suggest what is India’s interest. That's for India to decide. We know what is in our interest. We believe what is in our interest, and a powerful, growing, vibrant Indian economy we believe is in our interest. We know is in our interest. And there are certain basic rules of the road of the 21st century that have to be met as a practical matter -- not dictated by us, but by the marketplace in order to be able to get there.

So America does not claim to be a disinterested party. We see tremendous opportunities for American companies in technology and infrastructure, and in creating more efficient supply chains here in India.

One place to start is would be with the Bilateral Investment Treaty. It would give investors in both countries more certainty and predictability; fair treatment under a single, consistent set of rules for companies small and large, foreign and domestic.

I’m pleased that our countries are reengaging in talks toward a Bilateral Investment Treaty. Both our governments have instructed our negotiators to see what progress can be made by the time Prime Minister Singh visits Washington this fall.

In the United States, we welcome Indian businesses investing in the United States. We’ve already benefit from the investment of human capital. Indians receive more skilled-worker visas to the United States than any other country in the world. And the legislation our Congress is considering increases the number of temporary visas and Green Cards availability for highly skilled Indians to come work in the United States. I know that causes, as my Italian friends say, some agita with some individual companies. But the bottom line is there’s a net expansion.

At the same time, businesses and workers in both our countries benefit when there is a strong, predictable, and fair global trading system.

In December, members of the World Trade Organization will meet in Bali. We need to find a way forward to address India’s -- and I’ll be criticized for saying this -- India’s legitimate concerns about food security without distorting global trade. It’s a difficult problem, but it must be addressed.

And also -- it also addresses many countries’ desire to reduce barriers at borders that harm their companies and set back development.

Success in Bali can help reinvigorate world trade, the World Trade Organization and show that it remains a vital forum to resolve these issues.

In this and many other areas, India has an essential role to play -- both to take its rightful place in international rule-setting and to accept the responsibilities that come with it. Because ultimately, the two go hand in hand.

The second thing we can do is have our brilliant scientists on both sides of the Pacific -– our brilliant scientists work together on a common, common interest: clean energy and climate change to ensure that both countries can grow responsibly and sustainably.

In India -- I come from a part of America that -- where we’re only about seven feet above sea level. Sea levels are rising. They are rising. It will affect tens of millions of people in India.

At home, America is working to lower carbon pollution that causes climate change. In fact, we have brought it down to its lowest level in two decades. We have much more to do, and we plan to do more.

India, too, needs to take concerted action –- all the more as your economy and your energy needs continue to grow. I realize it’s a conundrum. I have heard the debate with developing economies over the past 30 years. You clear-cut your forest 200 years ago. You did such and such. You had an advantage. True. But it does not undercut the reality that we both have an overwhelming stake in seeing to it that we address the issue of climate change.

Of course India’s first priority is and must be lifting its citizens out of poverty. But unless we can develop a sustainable path on a low-carbon path, the consequences of climate change will seriously undermine the development and growth, as well as harm the very health of the people of India.

You’ve all observed what’s happening in China now. Allegedly a million people a year dying as a consequence o atmospheric pollution. Reality ultimately intrudes. And the reality is we have a worldwide problem.

This is not a favor to other nations. It matters to India -- to the productivity of your farmlands, the availability of water, the risks you face from floods and rising seas.

India is already taking steps. But like us, India can do more. And we are anxious and willing to work with you.

One thing we can do together right now is address pollutants called hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs. The reason I’m very familiar with this is I come from a little state that has an outfit called the DuPont Company. They had a great interest in refrigeration and HFCs when I talked about they should be eliminated. We talk about stakeholders and interests. Well, HFCs found in air conditioners and other products make an outsized contribution to climate change.

I hope that India will join the United States, China and more than 100 other countries to work within the Montreal Protocols to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs.

Your leaders fully understand that in order to sustain your development India needs access to low-carbon technologies and other sources of clean energy. And that’s why when I was a United States Senator and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee I fought so hard in the United States Senate to champion the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement. It’s part of the path to sustainable energy in a growing, powerful country. But part of that agreement was India committed to work with American companies as well as you build out those nuclear plants.

And it’s important that we complete the first agreement between American companies and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

The reactors that India has authorized its nuclear company to purchase in -- I hope I pronounce it right -- Gujarat would generate as much as 6,000 megawatts of power. To put that number in perspective: that would be enough energy to power two cities the size of Mumbai.

Third, although we are already helping India meet its military needs –- we can significantly increase our defense cooperation by what it already is, without in any way compromising each other’s sovereignty.

Cargo aircraft called C-130s that were sold to India are now saving the lives of flood victims in the mountains of northern India. We’re ready to go forward. Rather than just India purchasing from us, together we can graduate to have a true partnership or co-production and co-development agreements so that together we can design and co-produce the systems and technologies of the future.

But it’s not just military-to-military where we have increased our cooperation. Our cooperation has grown dramatically in our shared fight against terrorism. India has suffered grievous attacks against your parliament and here n Mumbai. We suffered 9/11.

Together we are working hand-in-hand, sharing intelligence on terrorist groups so there will never be another 9/11; there will never another 26/11.

Fourth, we want to deepen our strategic partnership on regional as well as global issues. The United States is elevating our engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. We refer to it as rebalance.

Twenty, even 10 years ago, some might have suggested that not have included India in these discussions. Today, India is an indispensable part of our rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific. Indians have looked east through travel and trade for a millennia. These ties are reemerging. India is negotiating a trade deal with ASEAN. It is becoming more involved in regional institutions. And that is good news for the region and for us.

Stronger connections between India and Southeast Asia will be a good business -- good for business I should say and good for stability. And both of us have a strong interest in maintaining the security of the sea lanes, freedom of navigation from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. And each have to get our relationship right with China.

I’ve heard people talk about the U.S.-China relationship as everything from the next Cold War to the next G2. None -- neither of those characterizations is accurate.

Like India, and I’ve had discussions on this issue while I’ve been here, but I knew it already, like India, we have a complex relationship with China. It has important elements of cooperation and also competition. And we want it to be constructive. There are three big nations -- we are three big nations -- China, India and the United States -- with our own perspectives. We have significant common interests. All three of us and the entire region would benefit if we coordinated more closely.

America and India have already built strong trilateral dialogue with Japan. It is past time we launch one with China. America and India are cooperating closely in Afghanistan. It’s been the subject of many of my discussions thus far with your leadership.

I know there are questions about the U.S. position on reconciliation with the Taliban. I want to be clear: We have always been committed to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process that meets three outcomes. The Taliban must, one, break with Al Qaeda permanently; stop the violence; accept the Afghan constitution and guarantee free and equal treatment for women.

India has exercised responsible leadership in Afghanistan through assistance, investment and strategic agreements with the Afghan government.

The United States is committed to supporting Afghanistan through our Strategic Partnership after the transition is complete at the end of 2014. We are not leaving the region –- even as Afghanis step up and take responsibility.

On Pakistan, we support the early outreach between Prime Ministers Singh and Sharif. It’s not our place to lecture. It’s not our place to dictate. Our relationship will not be defined by India’s relationship to Pakistan. But America and the world have a deep stake in closer ties between India and Pakistan -- an incredibly difficult nut to crack, but it’s yours to crack.

We have no illusions that it will be easy. But as you know better than we do, progress would benefit everyone and make all of us, particularly this region, more secure.

So there’s a great deal we hope India will contribute to. We believe, discussions I’ve had thus far, the peace and prosperity in the 21st century will be impacted upon by the outcomes of that relationship. That's why President Obama has called our relationship with India “a defining partnership for the century ahead.”

He is not engaging in hyperbole. He means it literally. And so do I. It’s the defining partnership in the century ahead. That’s why he stood in the Indian Parliament and declared to the world, that “we look forward to a reformed United Nations Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.” (Appaluse.) That’s why yesterday, on behalf of the President Obama, I invited Prime Minister Singh to make a visit to Washington at the end of September.

We have an incredibly full agenda, but nothing gives me more hope for the prospects of that agenda, as we approach it, nothing gives me more hope that we can accomplish it together than our people 720,000 visas per year that are issued here in India to go to the United States, the 100,000 talented Indian students studying at American Universities -– with the aim at doubling that number by 2020, and tripling the number of Americans studying in India.

But the foundation of my hope and expectations is built upon the certain knowledge that our people share a common set of values and peaceful vision for the world.

As I said, be critical, look down the road. Where is there an intersection in the future of the 21st century where we are likely to be at odds with one another on the big issues?

For those who doubt the vision that the President and I share, I would refer them to the founder of the modern state of India, Mahatma Gandhi. I had the honor of visiting the place where he literally spent his last days, as probably all of you have as well. And as I stood there, remembering him as a young child who -- being involved in the Civil Rights Movement and how Dr. King looked to Gandhi, I was reminded once again, which is not very -- how can I say it -- sophisticated to say to a sophisticated audience, but I was reminded once again that dreams matter. Dreams matter. A nation without a vision to where it wants to go will be buffeted by the swirling winds of the world and not have the ability to grab the reins to try to determine its own future. Vision matters.

But they are only realized, as all of you know, by hard work and incredible persistence. So as you look to the horizon, it’s very important we keep our feet on the ground, and continue the day-to-day painstaking effort of building this great partnership even if it means in the beginning we only make incremental small changes. But every day must be forward. No matter how small -- no matter how small the measure of progress is.

I am absolutely confident -- absolutely confident in the future of this relationship. Not because I’m naïve. I’ve been around longer than most of you. I’ve been doing this kind of business my entire adult life. My confidence is based on the history of the journey of both our countries. But I am confident.

May God bless you all, may God bless India and may God protect our troops. Thank you so very much. (Applause.)

END
2:14 P.M. IST