Remarks by the President at a DNC Fundraiser

Private Residence
San Francisco, California

4:30 P.M. PST

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Thank you, everybody.  Well, first of all, let me just say, Sandy and Jeanne are some of my most longstanding stalwart supporters and I am so grateful to them.  They have been with me just about every step of the way, and I’m sure this shows their Illinois good sense -– (laughter) –- but I am truly grateful, and they arranged a spectacular setting for a spectacular event.  And I want to thank them both. 

I want to thank everybody who helped to co-host this.  There are a lot of friends here who’ve –- I’ve been in your houses, too.  (Laughter.)  And you’ve known me before I had any gray hair.  (Laughter.)  And before a lot of people could pronounce my name properly, and I’m grateful.  And for those of you who I’m meeting for the first time, thank you so much for being here.

I’m going to -– the way I usually do these is to make some very brief remarks on the frontend and then really I want to spend most of the time just in a conversation and answering questions or hearing ideas that you may have.  If you look at what happened last year –- and I talked about this in the State of the Union –- after a debilitating recession, worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, four or five hard years of rebuilding and retooling and recovery, last year ended up being really a breakout year for America, in which all that hard work began to show itself not just in the fact that we had the fastest drop in unemployment in 30 years; not only in the fastest job growth since the 1990s; not only in strong GDP growth, export growth; but also a whole series of structural changes that we had begun way back in 2009 that were beginning to really bear fruit. 

Doubling the production of clean energy.  Ten times more solar power than we had.  Three times more wind power than we had.  Cutting carbon emissions.  High school graduation rates at an all-time high.  For younger students, reading and math scores showing appreciable gains.  Highest college enrollment that we had seen in a very long time. 

All these issues that had affected a lot of people for a long time finally began to pay off.  And, obviously, one of the most striking examples was health care, where despite all the battles back and forth in Washington, after a year we’ve seen more than 10 million people have affordable health insurance –- high-quality health insurance for the first time, in some cases, in their lives.  (Applause.)

And so the question I posed at the State of the Union was, how do we sustain this momentum and drive it in such a way that the overall growth that we’re seeing, the aggregate GDP numbers, the improved stock market –- that all of that begins to now manifest itself in hard-working families feeling a little bit more secure, feeling a little bit more hopeful, seeing more ladders of opportunity for young people?  How do we make sure that our prosperity is broad-based?  How do we make sure that incomes and wages start going up for folks?  How do we make sure that a young family is able to manage child care costs and save for college and save for retirement?  And if somebody gets sick, are they able to stay home, or if their child is sick, without losing a day’s pay?  How do we make sure that minimum-wage workers are getting paid enough that they’re not in poverty if they’re working full-time?  How do we build on the progress that we’ve made around clean energy to actually tackle the global challenge of climate change, and do it in a way that produces jobs and spurs on economic development?  How do we keep ourselves safe while still being true to our values?

And the good news is, is that we actually have pretty good answers for all of these challenges.  They’re not easy.  In some cases, it requires sacrifice.  In some cases, it requires investments today that will pay off 10 years from now, or 20 years from now, or 50 years from now.  But we know what to do, and the question is, is our politics up to the task?  And that’s where all of you come in. 

We had a very challenging midterm, despite good news, in part because two-thirds almost of eligible voters didn’t vote.  And part of the challenge is that people have felt so cynical about government for so long, and the gridlock in Washington has been so fierce, that at a certain point, people just opt out.

And one of the things I am absolutely determined to do over the next two years is not just consolidate the gains that we’ve made, not just move forward on new initiatives like free community colleges for young people around the country who need to be trained for the 21st-century economy, but part of my goal is also to restore a sense of possibility in our politics and our government.  And in some cases, that means challenging folks who are practicing the worst kind of cynical politics, and a politics based on fear rather than hope.  In some cases, it’s going to be finding areas of cooperating with Republicans.  In either case, we’re going to need people like you to support these ongoing efforts. 

I’ve only got two years left, but two years is a long time.  And two years is also the time in which we’re going to be setting the stage for the next presidential election and the next 10 years of American policy.  And so I intend to run through the tape and work really hard, and squeeze every last little bit of change and improvement in the lives of ordinary Americans and middle-class families that I can.  But I can’t do it alone.  And that’s why your support for the DNC is so greatly appreciated.  And for those of you who have been there every step of the way, I just want to say thank you. 

Thanks, everybody.  (Applause.)

END
4:38 P.M. PST

G-7 Leaders Statement on Ukraine

We, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission welcome the “Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements” adopted by their original signatories on 12^th February 2015 in Minsk. Implementation of the “Minsk Package” offers a way forward to a comprehensive, sustainable, and peaceful resolution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

However, the G7 remains concerned about the situation in Ukraine, in particular in view of the fighting around Debaltseve where Russian-backed separatist militias are operating beyond the line of contact agreed upon in the Minsk agreements of September 2014, causing numerous civilian casualties. We urge all sides to adhere strictly to the provisions of the Package and to carry out its measures without delay, starting with a ceasefire on the 15th of February. All parties should refrain from actions in the coming days that would hinder the start of the ceasefire. The G7 stands ready to adopt appropriate measures against those who violate the “Minsk package” and therefore intensify the costs for them, in particular against those who do not observe the agreed comprehensive ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons.

We again condemn Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea which is in violation of international law.

The G7 welcomes the agreement in principle reached on the 12^th of February by the IMF and the government of Ukraine on a new economic reform program that will be supported by an IMF Extended Fund Facility. The G7 members look forward to prompt consideration of the program by the IMF Executive Board. We are providing financial assistance to support Ukraine. This international assistance will help Ukraine in the ambitious economic reforms it is undertaking to restore economic growth and improve the living standards of the Ukrainian people. We commend the government of Ukraine for its commitment to implement this ambitious reform agenda with regard to economic, rule-of-law, and democratic reforms.

WHITE HOUSE REPORT: Investing in our Future: Helping Teachers and Schools Prepare Our Children for College and Careers

On Wednesday, Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee approved H.R. 5, the Student Success Act. The legislation would lock-in sequestration funding levels, eliminate accountability for taxpayer dollars, and allow states to shift Title I funds from high-poverty schools to more affluent districts. Today, the White House is releasing a report that provides a state-by-state impact of locking in ESEA funding levels at sequestration and a list of the school districts most negatively impacted by changes to the Title I allocation formula.

After an economic crisis that hit school budgets and educators hard, we cannot just cut our way to better schools and more opportunity.  H.R. 5 would deny students and teachers the resources they need by:

• Cementing recent education cuts, ensuring that federal education funding will be lower in 2021 than it was in 2012, before the recent education cuts and despite inflation and growing enrollment. The House Republican proposal caps spending on the ESEA for the next six years at $800 million lower than it was in 2012. In Title I alone, the bill will provide over $7 billion less to our schools than the President’s budget over six years, and the impact on each state is presented in Appendix 1.
• Eliminating guarantees that education funding reaches the classroom, while opening the door for education investments to be wasted on things like sports stadiums and other unrelated pet projects. The House Republican proposal would allow states and localities to reduce the overall amount they spend on education and the funding they direct to classrooms and teachers without losing a dime of federal resources. 
• Cutting investments to those schools that need help most by allowing states to cut federal resources for schools that need it most, while giving it to wealthier schools instead. The 100 school districts facing the largest cuts in dollar terms face an average 15 percent cut, and some especially high-poverty school districts would see cuts as large as 74 percent.
• Eliminating accountability for taxpayer dollars rather than working to use them in ways that improve student learning and ensuring that all students succeed and we do what works to improve even the lowest performing schools. 

President Obama has a different vision to improve schools and help teachers by giving them the resources they need, identifying what is working, and fixing what doesn’t work so that we can guarantee every child has a world-class education. He would reduce student testing to the bare minimum to let teachers get back to teaching, while ensuring that parents and teachers know how students and schools are doing each year so we can ensure that every child is learning and problems in low-performing schools are addressed. And his Budget would strengthen our schools by investing an additional $2.7 billion in ESEA programs next year alone and expand high-quality preschool, so teachers, principals and educators have the support and resources they need to help students succeed in the classroom.

FACT SHEET: White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection

As a nation, the United States has become highly digitally dependent.  Our economy, national security, educational systems, and social lives have all become deeply reliant on cyberspace.  Our use of digital networks provides a platform for innovation and prosperity and a means to improve general welfare around the country and around the globe, driving unparalleled growth. But this dependency also creates risks that threaten national security, private enterprises and individual rights. It is a threat not just here in the United States, but one that everyone, everywhere who is connected to cyberspace faces.

On February 13, the President is convening leaders from throughout the country who have a stake in bolstering cybersecurity – from industry, tech companies, and consumer and privacy advocates to law enforcement, educators, and students.  Participants will discuss opportunities to spur collaboration and develop partnerships in the cybersecurity and consumer financial worlds to share best practices, promote stronger adherence to security standards, improve cyber threat information sharing, and encourage the adoption of more secure payment technologies. 

This Summit comes at a crucial point.  The President has been committed to strengthening our Nation’s cybersecurity since the beginning of his Administration and we have made significant progress.  Yet, cyber threats to individuals, businesses, critical infrastructure and national security have grown more diffuse, acute, and destructive. Despite improvements in network defense, cyber threats are evolving faster than the defenses that counter them. Malicious actors ranging from sophisticated nation states to common criminals to hacktivists take advantage of the anonymity, reach, and broad range of effects that cyberspace offers. Because of the interconnected nature of the Internet, no one is isolated from these threats. We are at an inflection point, both domestically and internationally, and now is the time to raise the call for greater collective action.

Public and Private Commitments

Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility.  The Federal government has the responsibility to protect and defend the country and we do this by taking a whole-of-government approach to countering cyber threats. This means leveraging homeland security, intelligence, law enforcement, and military authorities and capabilities, which respectively provide for domestic preparedness, criminal deterrence and investigation, and our national defense.   Yet much of our nation’s critical infrastructure and a diverse array of other potential targets are not owned by the Federal government.  The Federal government cannot, nor would Americans want it to, provide cybersecurity for every private network.  Therefore, the private sector plays a crucial role in our overall national network defense.   To that end, both the Federal government and the private are announcing key commitments today. 

The Cybersecurity Framework

In 2013, the President signed an Executive Order on Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity which resulted in the development of the Cybersecurity Framework, released on February 12, 2014.  In taking a risk management approach, the Framework recognizes that no organization can or will spend unlimited amounts on cybersecurity.  Instead, it enables a business to make decisions about how to prioritize and optimize its cybersecurity investments. The Framework also offers a flexible benchmarking tool for a wide range of organizations. For organizations that don’t know where to start, the Framework provides a roadmap. For organizations that are already sophisticated, the Framework offers a yardstick to measure against – and to use in communicating with partners and suppliers. Finally, the Framework creates a common vocabulary that can be used to effectively communicate about cyber risk management. The Framework is emerging as an important tool for technologists to communicate with organizational leaders on managing cyber risks. We have been encouraged by industry use of the Framework, and we will continue to promote its broad uptake both within the government and across the private sector.  Today, the following corporations are announcing a commitment to using the Framework.

• Intel is releasing a paper on its use of the Framework and requiring all of its vendors to use the Framework by contract.
• Apple is incorporating the Framework as part of the broader security protocols across its corporate networks.
• Bank of America will announce that it is using the Framework and will also require it of its vendors.
• U.S. Bank and Pacific Gas & Electric are announcing that they are committed to using the Framework.
• AIG is starting to incorporate the NIST framework into how it underwrites cyber insurance for large, medium-sized, and small businesses and will use the framework to help customers identify gaps in their approach to cybersecurity.
• QVC is announcing that it is using the Cybersecurity Framework in its risk management.
• Walgreens is announcing its support for the Cybersecurity Framework and that it uses it as one of its tools for identifying and measuring risk.
• Kaiser Permanente is committing to use the Framework.

Information Sharing

Today the President is also signing an Executive Order to encourage and promote the sharing of cybersecurity threat information within the private sector and between the private sector and Federal government. Rapid information sharing is an essential element of effective cybersecurity because it ensures that U.S. companies work together to respond to threats, rather than operating alone. This Executive Order lays out a framework for expanded information sharing designed to help companies work together with the federal government to quickly identify and protect against cyber threats.  From removing barriers, to helping to improve the delivery of timely and relevant intelligence to the private sector, to advocating for needed legislation, the President is committed to improving information sharing and collaboration with the private sector. 

The following organizations will also be making commitments today:        

• The Cyber Threat Alliance (including Palo Alto Networks and Symantec, Intel Security, and Fortinet) will announce that its new cyber threat sharing partnership is starting to build best practices and standards consistent with the new information sharing Executive Order.
• The Entertainment Software Association is announcing the creation of a new information sharing and analysis organization that will be built consistent with the new information sharing Executive Order.
• Crowdstrike is announcing that it will form an information sharing and analysis organization.
• Box is announcing that it will participate in the standards-development process for ISAOs, and that it will explore ways to use the Box platform to enhance collaboration among ISAOs.
• FireEye is launching its “Information Sharing Framework,” which allows FireEye customers to receive threat intelligence in near-real-time, and provides anonymized threat indicators 

Secure Payment Technologies

In October 2014, the President signed an Executive Order to advance consumer financial protection and launched the Buy Secure Initiative.  Today, the following organizations will announce new commitments to promote more secure payment technologies.

• Visa is committing to tokenization – substituting credit card numbers with randomly generated tokens for each transaction - by the end of the 1^st quarter of 2015.
• MasterCard will invest more than $20 million in new cybersecurity tools, including the deployment of Safety Net, a new security solution that will reduce the risk of large-scale cyber attacks. 
• Apple, Visa, MasterCard, Comerica Bank and U.S. Bank are committed to working together to make Apple Pay, a tokenized, encrypted service, available for users of federal payment cards, including DirectExpress and GSA SmartPay cards.
• Square is working with the Small Business Administration to roll out an education program aimed at convincing small business to adopt more secure payment technologies.
• The Financial Services Roundtable and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, on behalf of a partnership of 19 associations, are jointly announcing today the release of two papers to enhance collaboration in the development of technology standards and principles for the development of next generation technologies that minimize the value of payments information if it is stolen or lost.  

Multi-Factor Authentication

In order to replace the password as our primary means of security online, we must have new technologies that combine greater security and convenience.  This technology moves beyond usernames and passwords to employ multiple security steps to better ensure a person is who they say they are. 

Through the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, the US Government has invested more than $50 million over the past four years to advance this market in partnership with the research and development community and technology firms.  

The following companies are announcing new initiatives to advance multi-factor authentication:

• Intel is releasing a new authentication technology that will not rely on a password, but will instead employ other technologies, such as biometrics.
• American Express is announcing rollout of new multi-factor authentication technologies for their consumers.
• MasterCard, in partnership with First Tech Credit Union, will announce that they will implement a new pilot later this year that will allow consumers to authenticate and verify their transactions using a combination of unique biometrics such as facial and voice recognition. 
• In September of last year, CloudFlare enabled more than a million of its customers' Web sites to support Universal SSL--for free.  Now, they are taking another step to secure the Web by enabling every CloudFlare customer to support DNSSEC, the open standard for authenticating domain names, by the end of the year. 

Credit Score Transparency – A number of leaders in the financial services industry will be making credit scores more readily available to all Americans, improving consumers’ awareness of credit health, and providing them a tool to identify major shifts in their credit score – a key first sign of identity theft.

• In partnership with FICO, Nationstar will join the growing list of firms making credit scores available for free to their customers by the end of the year

Call for Legislative Action

The government and private sector have made significant commitments to advance cybersecurity and consumer protection.   While we applaud Congress for successfully passing several pieces of important cybersecurity legislation last year, we still need Congress to pass key cybersecurity legislation.  To support that call for action, last month the President sent our updated cybersecurity legislative proposal to Congress. 

Enabling Cybersecurity Information Sharing: The Administration’s updated proposal promotes better cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and government and enhances collaboration and information sharing amongst the private sector.  Specifically, the proposal encourages the private sector to share appropriate cyber threat information with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), which will then share it with relevant federal agencies and with private sector-developed and operated Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs), by providing targeted liability protection for companies that share information.

The legislation also encourages the formation of private-sector led Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations.  The Administration’s proposal safeguards Americans’ personal privacy by requiring private entities to comply with certain privacy restrictions such as removing unnecessary personal information and taking measures to protect any personal information that must be shared to qualify for liability protection.  The proposal further requires the Department of Homeland Security and the Attorney General, in consultation with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and others, to develop receipt, retention, use, and disclosure guidelines for the federal government’s sharing of cyber threat indicators.  Finally, the Administration intends this proposal to complement and not to limit existing effective relationships between government and the private sector.  These existing relationships between law enforcement and other federal agencies are critical to the cybersecurity mission.

Modernizing Law Enforcement Authorities to Combat Cyber Crime: Law enforcement must have appropriate tools to investigate, disrupt and prosecute cyber crime.  The Administration’s proposal contains provisions that would allow for the prosecution of the sale of botnets, criminalize the overseas sale of stolen U.S. financial information like credit card and bank account numbers, expand federal law enforcement authority to deter the sale of spyware used to stalk or commit identity theft, and give courts the authority to shut down botnets engaged in distributed denial of service attacks and other criminal activity.  It also reaffirms important components of the Administration’s 2011 cyber legislative proposals to update the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a key law used to prosecute organized crime, so that it applies to cybercrimes, clarifies penalties for computer crimes, and makes sure these penalties are in line with other similar non-cyber crimes.  Finally, the proposal modernizes the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by ensuring that insignificant conduct does not fall within the scope of the statute, while making clear that it can be used to prosecute insiders who abuse their ability to access information to use it for their own purposes.

National Data Breach Reporting: State laws have helped consumers protect themselves against identity theft while also encouraging business to improve cybersecurity.  These laws require businesses that have suffered an intrusion to notify consumers if consumers’ personal information has been compromised.  The Administration’s updated proposal helps businesses and consumers by simplifying and standardizing the existing patchwork of 46 state laws (plus the District of Columbia and several territories) that contain these requirements into one federal statute, and by putting in place a single clear and timely notice requirement to ensure that companies notify their employees and customers about security breaches.

Moving Forward

The Cybersecurity Summit marks a milestone in our Nation’s efforts to strengthen its cyber defenses.  It provides an opportunity to discuss what we have accomplished to date and to highlight immediate commitments that the Federal government and the private sector are making to improve the security of cyberspace.   However, in cybersecurity, we can never rest on past achievements.  Therefore, even as we and the private sector make good on these commitments, we need to keep moving forward.   We will continue to focus on strengthening the defenses of our critical infrastructure and government networks, improving our ability to disrupt, respond to, recover from, and mitigate malicious cyber activity, enhance our international cooperation, and shape the future of cyberspace to be inherently more secure.  And we look forward to doing this in close collaboration with our private sector partners.