Press Gaggle aboard Air Force One en route WI, 1/30/14

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Wisconsin 

10:13 A.M. EST

MR. CARNEY:  Good morning.  Welcome aboard Air Force One.  Glad to have you with us as we make our way to the Badger State, the great state of Wisconsin.  The President, as you know, is traveling to Wisconsin today to discuss job-driven training and to continue to expand on the themes of his State of the Union address, discussing new ways to build economic security for the middle class and to expand opportunity for all so that every American can get ahead.

While in Wisconsin, the President will visit General Electric’s Gas Engines Facility located in Waukesha -- is that how we pronounce it? -- for more than 100 years, and acquired by GE in 2011.  The facility produces engines designed and built to perform in oil and gas fields, factories and utilities worldwide. And GE Energy works with the -- GE Energy, rather, works with the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership/BIG STEP, a workforce program that brings together employers, colleges, labor unions and other community-based organizations to develop training systems that shrink skills gaps in advanced manufacturing, construction and other industries.  Since 1990, GE Energy, previously Waukesha Motors, has relied on WRTP/BIG STEP for training its new and incumbent workforce.  The President looks forward very much to that visit.

Then, as you know, we’re going to Nashville where he will discuss the need to continue to make progress in education because getting an education, more than ever, is a ticket to the middle class.

With that, I will take your questions.

Q    Jay, what’s the White House’s response to Senator Reid yesterday on the trade promotion authority?

MR. CARNEY:  Leader Reid has always been clear on his position on this particular issue.  As the President said in the State of the Union address, he will continue to work to enact bipartisan trade promotion authority to protect our workers and environment and to open markets to new goods stamped “Made in the USA.”  And we will not cede this important opportunity for American workers and businesses to our competitors.

Q    How big of a stumbling block is that to getting the two trade deals that the administration is working on?

MR. CARNEY:  Again, Darlene, Leader Reid has always been clear on his position on this issue.  The President’s commitment was made clear again in the State of the Union address.  It’s a very important opportunity to expand trade, to not cede this territory to our competitors, and the President will continue to press to get it done.

Q    Leader Reid is obviously a very powerful figure in the Senate and a Democrat.  How does this affect the President’s desire to do this?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, the President’s commitment is --

Q    The President’s ability, is the word I should have said.

MR. CARNEY:  How does it affect his desire?  It does not change his desire --

Q    I’m correcting myself to “ability,” Jay.

MR. CARNEY:  And Leader Reid, his position on this issue has been long expressed.  

Q    That's not my question.

MR. CARNEY:  Right, so you’re saying how does his position

--

Q    No, how does that affect the White House’s ability to get this through?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, it doesn’t affect it because Leader Reid has long expressed his position on this issue and --

Q    How could it not affect it if he controls the agenda?

MR. CARNEY:  -- and we'll continue to press to get it done.

Q    Okay.  What did he mean when he said people should be  -- would be wise not to push it now?  Was that waiting until after November?

MR. CARNEY:  Asking me what somebody else meant that I don’t work for -- I would refer you to Senator Reid.

Q    How did you interpret his message?  It’s a message to you.  How did you interpret it?

MR. CARNEY:  Again, we’re not going to cede this important opportunity for American workers and businesses to our competitors, Peter.  Obviously Leader Reid’s views on this issue are well known, and we, of course, take that into account.

Q    On the skills training that the President will be talking about today, the Republicans released a letter talking about a skills bill that was passed in the House and also about a GAO report that they say would answer the questions that the President has asked Joe Biden to look into.  What’s the White House’s view on those two things?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, you’re referring to the letter from the Speaker?  Obviously the President, as he has made clear, welcomes the credible input from anybody who wants to work with him to expand opportunity and to keep our economy growing, and we welcome that. 

The President is not going to -- let me back up.  The President will, as he said, work with Congress on a whole host of areas where Congress demonstrates its willingness to try to find bipartisan compromises and cooperate, but he will also continue to pursue his agenda through the use of his executive authority, through the use of his pen and phone.  And that is I think something that we’re highlighting this week and will continue to highlight in the days and weeks ahead.

Q    Regarding the executive authority, some analysts and other Republicans and critics are saying that these actions will not have a big impact.  What’s your overall strategy to make it more impactful?

MR. CARNEY:  So Republican critics, who --

Q    And nonpartisan critics.

MR. CARNEY:  -- it is fair to say, have helped drive Congress’s approval rating to 13 percent and sometimes into the single digits through their obstructionism, are suggesting that the President -- or this President or any President should not use every tool in his toolbox to advance an agenda that expands opportunity because alone that authority does not get the entire job done.  I think the President obviously recognizes that.  That’s why he works with Congress and presses Congress to take action on a whole host of issues, including raising the federal minimum wage, including comprehensive immigration reform -- two items that would go a long way toward rewarding hard work and responsibility, and to expanding economic growth and innovation. So he’s going to keep doing that.

But what he won’t do is let Congress get in the way of him doing his job.  And he will use the authority he has as President and the influence he has because of the office to take action wherever he can.  You’ve seen that -- you saw it yesterday and the other night in the State of the Union address with signing an executive order to raise the minimum wage for new contracts, federal contractors, and you’ve seen it again and again, and you’ll see it again today.

Q    -- for the President to actually sign a memorandum to get the Vice President to do a review?  Why is a memorandum even necessary?

MR. CARNEY:  We’ll have to get you some more information about the process.  The fact is -- I think we’ve provided you a lot of information.  I’m happy to go through it with you about it -- about what the Vice President is doing at the President’s request, why it’s important.  And if you look at the event the President is having today, there is an enormous opportunity here to engage businesses, mayors, state legislatures, governors in an effort to -- and colleges and universities, including community colleges -- in an effort to create job-driven training and education so that Americans out there getting an education are learning the skills they need for the jobs that are available that help sustain a middle-class life.

Q    Jay, on the House bill that Jeff was talking about, the skills act, or whatever, is there anything the White House finds objectionable in it?

MR. CARNEY:  I don't have an analysis of that bill.  I think we have put out statements and views on the bill in the past, but I don’t have anything -- any update for you on it.

Q    Can we get those, because obviously the --

Q    There’s been a lot of focus on the Olympics, but we also have the Super Bowl coming up.  Has the President been briefed on any security preparations? And also, what are his plans for watching the Super Bowl?

MR. CARNEY:  On the second question, as you know, the President, as has become the tradition, is giving an interview to Bill O'Reilly, in this case, because FOX is broadcasting the Super Bowl this year.  So he'll be in the White House and I think he is just going to watch it at the White House.

Q    Is he inviting anybody?

MR. CARNEY:  I don't have any updates on the President's weekend schedule. 

On the question of security around the Super Bowl, it's an excellent question, because I think as I and others have noted when we've been discussing the Sochi Olympics, major sporting events, especially in the post-9/11 era, present unique security challenges.  And this is something that our -- here in the United States, obviously, our law enforcement agencies work very hard on.  I don't have any details.  The President is always kept up to date around events like this. 

On the Sochi Olympics, we continue to maintain regular communication with Russian authorities about the security situation in Sochi.  The State Department issued a travel advisory on January 10th that continues to be a statement of our views about security for Americans looking to travel to Sochi, recommending that they take the kinds of precautions that are contained in the advisory, and that they register with the State Department so that they can be provided information very quickly, should it be needed.  But it is not a recommendation to not go to Sochi.

As more information becomes available, we will make it available.  And we continue to work with the Russians to get as much information as we can.  We also have the view that Russia believes that it is absolutely in its interest to have a safe and secure Olympic Games, and is taking every step to achieve that.

Q    Can you trust Russia to work on arms control if they're having missile tests that violate the INF treaty, as apparently, (inaudible) notified NATO?

MR. CARNEY:  I can point you to what my colleague over at the State Department, Jen Psaki, said about that story.  We take questions about compliance with arms control treaties including the INF Treaty very seriously.  When compliance questions arise, we work to resolve them with our treaty partners, and we'll continue to do so.  This is something that is under review and something that we monitor very closely. 

Q    Does the President still want to negotiate further arms cuts with Russia?  Can Russia be trusted? 

MR. CARNEY:  The U.S. is committed to maintaining strategic stability between the United States and Russia, and supports continuing its dialogue aimed at fostering a more stable, resilient and transparent security relationship.  And that includes the New START Treaty; it includes the INF Treaty, and it includes continued negotiations with the Russians on the implementation of previous treaties and other efforts we can undertake to increase the stability of that relationship.

Q    Can we go back to the job-training review the Vice President is going to do?  In what way will that be different from what the GAO did several years ago?

MR. CARNEY:  -- the GAO’s report.  What I can tell you is it is often noted that a demonstration of a White House's commitment to an issue is reflected in the kind of action the President took by putting Joe Biden, the Vice President, in charge of an effort like this.  So as I know from having worked with him, and the President knows from the experience they've had together, when the Vice President is put in charge of an effort like this it gets done and it will be effective.  And that's what the President expects.

Q    Jay, we're on our way to Milwaukee now and Governor Walker says he will be there to greet the President on the tarmac.  But Mary Burke, the Democratic challenger to Governor Walker, will not be there.  Allyson Schwartz was not in Pittsburg yesterday.  Kay Hagan didn’t appear with the President earlier this month.  Is the President concerned that Democratic candidates don't want to appear with him at public events?

MR. CARNEY:  The President is out there advancing an agenda designed to expand opportunity for the American people.  That's an agenda that should be welcomed by Americans across the country, regardless of how they vote, their political affiliation.  That's what the President is focused on.

He obviously supports Democratic candidates, both incumbents and challengers, across the country.  And I think we've amply demonstrated that support already, and he will continue to do so.

Q    Has he endorsed any of these candidates?

MR. CARNEY:  I’d have to refer you to the DNC or others.  I just don't have that information.

Q    Jay, back to jobs for a bit.  You're having an event at the White House tomorrow.  Are you in a position to preview that a little bit?  It has to do with the long-term unemployed and CEOs.

MR. CARNEY:  I can tell you that the President will be having this event as we've announced and that it’s designed to focus, again, on what he can do using his unique powers and authority as President to bring together stakeholders around this challenge. 

As I think I mentioned earlier in the week from the podium, the unemployment level for those who have been unemployed for 26 weeks or less is now consistent with the past, so that the elevated level of unemployment that we still have at 6.7 percent is entirely, by this analysis, attributable to the persistent problem of long-term unemployed. 

And the President has spoken a lot about this.  It’s something he’s spoken about in the context of the urgent need for the Congress to extend emergency unemployment insurance, which the Congress, unfortunately, allowed to lapse.  But it’s also something that we need to work together on.  So the President will be bringing stakeholders together on Friday to demonstrate that we can tackle a problem like this that expands opportunity, that reduces unemployment, that deals with the specific problem of long-term unemployment not necessarily using legislation -- although in the case of extending unemployment insurance benefits, legislation is required. 

Q    Is he basically soliciting things from the CEOs on this?  And could there be an executive order coming out of this?

MR. CARNEY:  We'll have more information for you on it as we get closer to the event.

Q    On Syria, is the United States concerned about evidence that Syria is not progressing as fast as it should be in terms of getting chemical weapons out of the country?  And how do you plan to hold Assad accountable for that?

MR. CARNEY:  The international community is poised and ready to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons as soon as the chemicals have reached the Syrian port of Latakia.  It is the Assad regime’s responsibility to transport those chemicals safely to facilitate their removal.  We expect them to meet their obligations to do so.

We join the OPCW in calling on the Assad regime to intensify its efforts to ensure that its international obligations and commitments are met so that these materials may be removed from Syria as quickly and safely as possible.  We continue to work to meet the OPCW’s milestone for all chemicals to be destroyed by June 30, 2014.  We obviously recognize that there’s a lot of work that remains to be done.  The OPCW has set ambitious milestones for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons and we continue to work to meet those milestones, including, importantly, the June 30th target date.

On the question of compliance, it is the Assad regime’s responsibility to ensure that those chemicals are delivered to Latakia.

Q    Jay, Angela Merkel yesterday said the United States can't be trusted because of the NSA surveillance.  Do you have a response?

MR. CARNEY:  Peter, as you know, we've been engaged directly with the Germans on this issue.  The President and Chancellor have spoken on several occasions.  And we continue to work on this issue through diplomatic channels. 

As you heard the President describe in his speech on our signal intelligence the other day -- or the other week -- on the matter of the kinds of surveillance specifically on heads of state, we've taken action, and we continue to work with our partners, including Germany, on this matter.

Q    She seemed unsatisfied by that.

MR. CARNEY:  All I can tell you is that we continue to have discussions.  There’s no question that the disclosures have -- especially -- specifically the disclosures themselves and often the context around them has caused tensions in relations with a number of countries, and we work very aggressively -- and have worked very aggressively through diplomatic channels to address concerns that countries have.

Q    Can you respond to the IG report on Afghanistan questioning that all the money that's gone directly to the government has been siphoned off for corruption?

MR. CARNEY:  I don't have a specific response to that.  I can tell you that we continue to have, and will continue to have beyond 2014, an important relationship with Afghanistan.  And that relationship is important because it’s related to the essential need to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a haven for core al Qaeda. 

That’s the reason why we’re there.  That was the reason for the President’s review of our Afghanistan policy and the reason why he insisted on, in that review, that we narrowed and clarified our objectives -- first and foremost, the objective number one being disrupting, dismantling and ultimately defeating core al Qaeda.  And we’ve made significant progress towards that objective, but that effort continues.

I don’t have a specific response on the matter of the aid that you’re describing except that we continue to address concerns about these kinds of issues directly with the Afghan government.

Q    Jay, Chrysler and Fiat are merging, and there’s a good chance that the headquarters will be in Europe.  Everyone is smiling.  Does the White House have any position on where the headquarters is given the fact that the United States bailed out Chrysler?  Are you encouraging Fiat’s bosses to make the headquarters in the United States?

MR. CARNEY:  Actually, I haven’t heard any discussion about that specific issue related to headquarters.  What I can tell you is the action that was taken by the administration, while widely criticized and widely viewed as politically unpopular at the time, effectively saved the American automobile industry -- Chrysler and GM specifically, but overall the American automobile industry -- because if those companies had gone under, the impact because of suppliers on the rest of the industry would have been dramatic.

 So what we’ve seen since those initiatives were undertaken is a remarkable revival of the American automobile industry, an industry that’s now producing excellent cars, more fuel-efficient cars, and equally importantly, expanding its operations and its workforce, as has been noted quite frequently over the last couple of years.

Q    Do you know if the President been made aware of a fatal shooting involving two students at the school he’s going to speak at later today?

MR. CARNEY:  He is aware of that, and it’s a tragedy, a terrible tragedy.  The President will obviously speak about matters of education at the event, but I think you can expect he will have something to say about the tragedy at the top of his remarks.

Q    -- you might have for a number on this minimum wage federal contract, or how many might be affected?  I don’t know if you ever got a chance to check and see if there’s one.

MR. CARNEY:  Here is what I have on that.  While we are still working -- we are still working, rather, on the executive order so we won’t be able to give a specific estimate.  Our goal is to affect as many people as possible, and our best guess at this time is a couple hundred thousand will be covered when it is fully implemented.  This is an estimate, however, because the decisions some contractors make will affect the number, and the data collected in this area is imprecise. 

The point is we are acting where we can.  But as I said yesterday, this executive action is not a substitute for action at the state or federal level.  It reflects the President’s commitment to use the authority he has to expand opportunity and to reward hard work and responsibility.

Q    Is there an estimate of what that will do to the federal contracting costs?  The President has talked about reform in that area.  Will the unintended consequence of this be rising contractor cost payments by the federal government?

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t seen any analysis along those lines. I think that what we’ve seen overall in economists’ analysis about the impact of raising the minimum wage, whether in states or across the country, is that it does not have the impact that you describe.  In fact, it has obviously contributed to elevating the circumstances of those making the minimum wage, and in the case of our objective here, of raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, lifting hardworking individuals and families out of poverty when they work full-time, and having the resulting effect of creating more demand in the economy because minimum wage workers will be making more.

Q    Thank you.

MR. CARNEY:  All right.

END
10:39 A.M. EST

Remarks by the President on Opportunity for All and Skills for America's Workers

GE Energy Waukesha Gas Engines Facility
Waukesha, Wisconsin

11:27 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you!  (Applause.)  Hello, hello, hello!  (Applause.)  Well, it's good to be in Wisconsin!  (Applause.)  It’s good to be in Waukesha.  (Applause.)  Now, I’ve always appreciated the hospitality that Packer Country gives a Bears fan.  (Laughter.)  I remember when I was up here campaigning the first time and there were some “Cheeseheads for Obama” -- (laughter) -- and I felt pretty good about that.  Neither of us feel that good about our seasons, but that's okay. There's always next year.   

We have three of your outstanding elected officials with us here today.  We've got Congresswoman Gwen Moore.  (Applause.)  We've got the Mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett.  (Applause.)  And we have Milwaukee County Executive, Chris Abele.  (Applause.)  And we've got your former Governor, Jim Doyle.  (Applause.)  And it's also good to see -- I had a chance to see backstage somebody who was a huge part of my economic team before she became Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison -- Dr. Becky Blank is here.  And we just want to give Becky a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  She said she missed Washington, but she doesn't really.  (Laughter.)  She was just saying that to be nice. 

I'm so proud of Reggie, and I'm grateful for the terrific introduction.  I want to thank Jim for showing me around the plant. 

I have come here to talk with you about something that I spent a lot of time on in my State of the Union address on Tuesday -- the idea that no matter who you are, if you are willing to work hard, if you're willing to take on responsibility you can get ahead -- the idea of opportunity here in America.

Now, we’re at a moment where businesses like GE have created 8 million new jobs over the past four years.  (Applause.)  And that's good news.  Our unemployment rate is the lowest that it’s been in more than five years.  Our deficits have been cut in half.  Housing is rebounding.  Manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  We sell more of what we make here in America to other countries than we ever have before. 

Today, we learned that in the second half of last year our economy grew by 3.7 percent.  We still have more work to do, but that's pretty strong.  And our businesses led the way.  Over the past year, the private sector grew faster than at any time in over a decade.
And that’s why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America.  After five years of hard work, digging ourselves out of the worst recession of our lifetimes, we are now better positioned in the 21st century than any other country on Earth.  We've got all the ingredients we need to make sure that America thrives.  And the question for folks in Washington is whether they're going to help or they're going to hinder that progress; whether they're going to waste time creating new crises that slow things down, or they're going to spend time creating new jobs and opportunity.

Because the truth is -- and you know this in your own lives, and you see it in your neighborhoods among your friends and family -- even though the economy has been growing for four years, even though corporate profits have been doing very well, stock prices have soared, most folks’ wages haven’t gone up in over a decade.  The middle class has been taking it on the chin even before the financial crisis -- too many Americans working harder than ever just to get by, let alone get ahead.  And then, there are too many Americans who still are out of work here in Wisconsin and around the country.  So we've got to reverse those trends if we're going to be serious about giving opportunity to everybody.

And that’s why, on Tuesday, I laid out some new steps that we can take right now to speed up economic growth and strengthen the middle class, and build ladders of opportunity into the middle class. 

Some of the ideas I presented I'm going to need Congress for.  But America cannot stand still, and neither will I.  So wherever I can take steps to expand opportunity, to help working families, that's what I’m going to do with or without Congress.  (Applause.)  I want to work with them, but I can't wait for them. We've got too much work to do out there, because the defining project of our generation -- what he have to tackle right now, what has driven me throughout my presidency and what will drive me until I wave goodbye is making sure that we're restoring opportunity to every single person in America. 

Now, this opportunity agenda that I put forward has four parts.  The first part is creating more new jobs -- jobs in American manufacturing, American exports, American energy, American innovation.  And, by the way, this plant represents all those things.  You've seen new jobs being built in part because we've had this amazing energy boom in this country.  And the engines that are built here, a lot of them are being utilized in that new energy production.  We're exporting a whole bunch of these engines overseas. 

The manufacturing that's taking place here isn't just good for this plant.  It has spillover effects throughout the economy. And what's also true is, is that manufacturing jobs typically pay well.  We want to encourage more of them.  And there's also innovation going on at this plant.  So the engines that were built 25 years ago aren't the same as the engines we're building today. 

So the first thing is let's create more new jobs.  Number two, we've got to train Americans with the skills to fill those jobs.  (Applause.)  Americans like Reggie, we've got to get them ready to take those jobs.  (Applause.) 

Number three, we've got to guarantee every child access to a world-class education, because that's where the foundation starts for them to be able to get a good job.  (Applause.)
 
And then, number four, we've got to make sure hard work pays off.  If you work hard, you should be able to support a family.  You may not end up being wildly rich, but you should be able to pay your mortgage, your car note, look after your family, maybe take a vacation once in a while -- especially when it's kind of cold.  (Laughter.)  At the State of the Union, I was going to start out by saying the state of the union is cold.  (Laughter.) But I decided that was not entirely appropriate.  (Laughter.)  

So on Tuesday, I talked about what it will take to attract more good-paying jobs to America -- everything from changing our tax code so we're rewarding companies that invest here in the United States instead of folks who are parking profits overseas to boosting more natural gas production.  But in this rapidly changing economy, we also have to make sure that folks can fill those jobs.  And that’s why I'm here today.

I know some folks in Wisconsin can remember a time, a few decades ago, when finding a job in manufacturing wasn’t hard at all.  If you basically wanted a job, you showed up at a factory, you got hired.  If you worked hard, you could stay on the job.  But our economy is changing.  Not all of today’s good jobs need a four-year degree, but the ones that don’t need a college degree do need some specialized training.  We were looking at some of the equipment here -- it's $5 million worth of equipment.  GE is going to be a little nervous if they just kind of put you there on the first day and say, here, run this thing -- (laughter) -- because if you mess up, you mess up.  (Laughter.)

So that’s a challenge for workers, and it’s a challenge for companies who want to build things here and want to bring jobs back from overseas.  As one of the top executives here put it, Brian White, “If we’re going to have a manufacturing base in this country, we’ve got to find a way to have manufacturing employees.”

Now, the good news is that folks across Wisconsin have set out to do just that.  This plant is a great example of that.  That's why we're here -- in addition to just you seem like very nice people.  (Laughter.)  But we're here because you're doing some really good stuff that everybody else needs to pay attention to.  Together with a local high school, you started a youth apprenticeship program.  So students spend four hours a day in the classroom, four hours on the shop floor; after two years they leave with both a high-school diploma and a technical certificate. 

Then, you set up an adult apprenticeship program, so that folks can earn while they learn.  You’re working with partners from the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, to Mayor Barrett’s manufacturing partnership, to more than 50 other employers big and small across the region in order to spot job openings months in advance and then design training programs specifically for the openings.  You even helped set up a “schools to skills” program with a local business alliance to bring kids to factories and help inspire them to pursue careers in manufacturing. 

And I just want to make a quick comment on that.  A lot of parents, unfortunately, maybe when they saw a lot of manufacturing being offshored, told their kids you don't want to go into the trades, you don't want to go into manufacturing because you'll lose your job.  Well, the problem is that what happened -- a lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career.  But I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree.  Now, nothing wrong with an art history degree -- I love art history.  (Laughter.)  So I don't want to get a bunch of emails from everybody.  (Laughter.)  I'm just saying you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education as long as you get the skills and the training that you need.  (Applause.)

So back to what you guys are doing.  All this work has paid off.  It’s one of the reasons why, over the past four years, you’ve grown your manufacturing workforce by nearly half.  So what you’re doing at this plant, and across this region, can be a model for the country -- which is why I've asked Congress to fund more reliably proven programs that connect more ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs.  (Applause.)  That's what we'd like to see from Congress.  

Of course, there are a lot of folks who do not have time to wait for Congress.  They need to learn new skills right now to get a new job right now.  (Applause.)  So that's why here today at GE, I'm making it official:  Vice President Biden, a man who was raised on the value of hard work and is tenacious, is going to lead an across-the-board review of America’s training programs.  (Applause.)  We’ve got a lot of programs, but not all of them are doing what they should be doing to get people filled for jobs that exist right now.  And we've got to move away from what my Labor Secretary, Tom Perez, calls “train and pray” -- you train workers first and then you hope they get a job.  We can't do that, partly because it costs money to train folks, and a lot of times young people they take out loans, so they're getting into debt, thinking they’ve been training for a job, and then, suddenly, there's no job there. 

What we need to do is look at where are the jobs and take a job-driven approach to training.  And that's what you're doing here in Wisconsin.  So we've got to start by figuring out which skills employers are looking for.  Then we've got to engage the entire community.  We've got to help workers earn the skills they need to do the job that exists.  And then we've got to make sure that we're continually following up and upgrading things, because companies are constantly shifting their needs.

So what we're going to do is we're going to review all of federal job training programs, soup to nuts.  And then we're also going to be supporting local ones.  I've asked Vice President Biden and top officials in the federal government to reach out to governors, mayors, business leaders, labor leaders, Democratic and Republican members of Congress -- let's find what programs are working best and let's duplicate them and expand them. 

And later this year, I'm going to ask Tom Perez, my Secretary of Labor, to apply those lessons as we conduct the next round of a national competition we're going to set up, challenging community colleges to partner with local employers and national industries to design job-driven training programs.  And we're going to have at least one winner from every state.  And we’re going to invest nearly $500 million in the partnerships that show the most potential.  So we're putting some real money behind this.  (Applause.) 

Now, we know that we’ve got to start training our younger workers better and that a worker’s first job can set them on an upward trajectory for life.  So we should do something as a country that you’re doing right here, and that is create more apprenticeship opportunities that put workers on a path to the middle class.  Part of the problem for a lot of young people is they just don't know what's out there.  If you've never worked on a plant floor, you don't know what's involved, you don't know what it is.  If you don't have a dad or a mom or an uncle or somebody who gives you some sense of that, you may not know how interesting the work is and how much you can advance.  

So while we redouble our efforts to train today’s workforce, we've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to expand apprenticeships.  And I'm going to call on American companies all across the country, particularly manufacturers, to set up more apprenticeship programs. 

And we've got to make sure that once folks are through training, once they get a job that the hard work pays off for every single American.  I talked about this in my State of the Union.  Incomes, wages have not gone up as fast as corporate profits and the stock market have gone up.  And that's a problem for the economy as a whole, because if all the gains are just at the top, ordinary folks aren't doing better, then they're not shopping.  They're not buying new cars.  They're not buying new appliances.  They're not buying the new home.  And that depresses the entire economy.  When there's money in the pockets of ordinary folks, everybody does better, including businesses. 

Now, today, women make up half our workforce.  They're making 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  That’s wrong!

THE PRESIDENT:  That's wrong.  Who said that?  It's wrong. (Applause.)  It’s an embarrassment.  So I mentioned on Tuesday, women deserve equal pay for equal work.  (Applause.)  Women deserve to have a baby without sacrificing her job, and should be able to get a day off when the kid gets sick.  Dad's need that too.  (Applause.) 

We've got to give women every opportunity that she deserves. As I said on Tuesday, when women succeed, America succeeds. (Applause.)  And, by the way, when women succeed, men succeed.  (Applause.)  Because -- I don't know about all the guys here, but when Michelle is doing good and happy, I'm happy, too.  (Laughter and applause.)  I'm just saying. 

But also, just the economics of it, because we now live in a society where if you've got two breadwinners, that sure helps make ends meet.  So if a woman is getting cheated, that's a family issue for the whole family, not just for her.  (Applause.)  
Now, women hold a majority of lower-wage jobs.  But they're not the only ones who are getting stifled by stagnant wages.  As Americans, we all understand some folks are going to make more money than others.  And we don't actually envy their success.  When they're worked hard, they make a lot of money, that's great. Michelle and I were talking -- Michelle's dad was a blue-collar worker, worked at a water filtration plant down in Chicago.  Mom was a secretary.  My mom was a single mom.  They never made a lot of money.  They weren't worrying about what rich and famous were doing.  They weren't going around saying, I don't have a fur coat and a Ferrari.  They just wanted to make sure that if they were working hard, they could look after their family. 

And that’s how I think most Americans -- that’s how we all feel.  Americans overwhelmingly agree nobody who works fulltime should ever have to raise a family in poverty.  They shouldn’t have to do it.  (Applause.) 

So this is why I’ve been spending some time talking about the minimum wage.  Right now, the federal minimum wage doesn’t even go as far as it did back in 1950.  We’ve seen states and cities raising their minimum wages on their own -- and I support these efforts, including the one that’s going on right here in Wisconsin.  (Applause.)  As a chief executive, I’m going to lead by example.  I talked about this on Tuesday.  I’m going to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay the federally funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour -- (applause) -- because if you’re a cook or washing dishes for our troops on a base, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty. 

Of course, to reach millions more people, Congress is going to need to catch up with the rest of the country.  There’s a bill in Congress right now to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 -- the 10.10 bill.  It’s easy to remember:  10.10.  And they should say yes to it.  Give America a raise.

Making work pay also means access to health care that’s there when you get sick.  The Affordable Care Act means nobody is going to get dropped from their insurance or denied coverage because of a preexisting condition like back pain or asthma.  (Applause.)  You can’t be charged more if you’re a woman.  Those days are over.  More Americans are signing up for private health insurance every day.  (Applause.)  So if you know somebody who isn’t covered, the great thing about this shop is because of strong union leadership and GE is a great company, most of the folks who work here, they’ve got good health insurance.  But you’ve got friends, family members, maybe kids who are older than 26 -- because if they’re younger than 26 they should be able to stay on your plan, thanks to the law that we passed.  (Applause.) But if they don’t have health insurance right now, call them up, sit them down, help them get covered at healthcare.gov by March 31st.

So these things are all going to help advance opportunity, restore some economic security:  More good jobs.  Skills that keep you employed.  Savings that are portable.  Health care that’s yours and can’t be canceled or dropped if you get sick.  A decent wage to make sure if you’re waking hard, it pays off.  These are real, practical, achievable solutions to help shift the odds back in favor of more working families. 

That’s what all of you represent, just like the Americans who are on this stage.  Several of these folks graduated from one of your training program last year, including Reggie.  And as you heard Reggie say, he feels like he “won the Super Bowl of life.” (Applause.)  But just like the real Super Bowl, success requires teamwork.  So as they earned the skills that put them on the path to the middle class, Reggie and folks in the program had to look out for each other.  They had to help each other out.  Sometimes if one of them slipped, they had to come together and make sure nobody missed a beat. 

And that’s the attitude it’s going to take for all of us to build the world’s best-trained workforce.  That’s the attitude it’s going to take to restore opportunity for everybody who’s willing to work hard.  And it won’t be easy.  And sometimes some folks will slip.  But if we come together and push forward, everybody as a team, I’m confident we’re going to succeed.  We’ve seen it here in Wisconsin.  We can make sure it happens all across the country.

Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) Thank you.  (Applause.)  And now I’m going to sign this executive order to make sure we’ve got everybody trained out there.  (Applause.)

END
11:52 A.M. CST

President Obama Signs Oklahoma Disaster Declaration

Today, the President declared a major disaster in the State of Oklahoma and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by the severe winter storm during the period of December 5-6, 2013.

Federal funding 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 severe winter storm in the counties of Choctaw, Le Flore, McCurtain, and Pushmataha. 

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

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Sandy Coachman as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Statement by Press Secretary Jay Carney on Freedom of the Press in China

The United States is deeply concerned that foreign journalists in China continue to face restrictions that impede their ability to do their jobs, including extended delays in processing journalist visas, restrictions on travel to certain locations deemed “sensitive” by Chinese authorities and, in some cases, violence at the hands of local authorities.  These restrictions and treatment are not consistent with freedom of the press—and stand in stark contrast with U.S. treatment of Chinese and other foreign journalists. 

We are very disappointed that New York Times reporter Austin Ramzy was forced to leave China today because of processing delays for his press credentials. We remain concerned that Mr. Ramzy and several other U.S. journalists have waited months, and in some cases years, for a decision on their press credentials and visa applications.  We have raised our concerns about the treatment of journalists and media organizations repeatedly and at the highest levels with the Chinese government, and will continue to do so.  We have consistently and clearly expressed our expectation to Chinese authorities that China issue and renew visas for journalists working for U.S. media outlets in China.

Our two countries should be expanding media exchanges to enhance mutual understanding and trust, not restricting the ability of journalists to do their work.  We urge China to commit to timely visa and credentialing decisions for foreign journalists, unblock U.S. media websites, and eliminate other restrictions that impede the ability of journalists to practice their profession.  Around the world, the United States strongly supports universal rights and fundamental freedoms—central among them freedom of speech and freedom of the press.