Statement by the Press Secretary on Boston’s nomination to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

The President and First Lady extend their congratulations to the City of Boston on its nomination by the United States Olympic Committee to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The city has taught all of us what it means to be Boston Strong. The President and First Lady couldn't be prouder of this accomplishment and of all of our nation's athletes, and strongly support the effort to bring the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to the United States.  We hope to welcome athletes from around the globe to compete in Boston in 2024.

Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate

NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE:

Walter A. Barrows, of Ohio, to be a Member of the Railroad Retirement Board for a term expiring August 28, 2019.  (Reappointment)

Allison Beck, of the District of Columbia, to be Federal Mediation and Conciliation Director, vice George H. Cohen, resigned.

Michele Thoren Bond, of the District of Columbia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Consular Affairs), vice Janice L. Jacobs, resigned.

Michael P. Botticelli, of the District of Columbia, to be Director of National Drug Control Policy, vice R. Gil Kerlikowske, resigned.

Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri, of Arizona, to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission for the term of three years, vice Tracie Stevens.

Gilberto de Jesus, of Maryland, to be Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration, vice Winslow Lorenzo Sargeant.

Russell C. Deyo, of New Jersey, to be Under Secretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security, vice Rafael Borras, resigned.

Tho Dinh-Zarr, of Texas, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board for the remainder of the term expiring December 31, 2018, vice Deborah Hersman, resigned.

Romonia S. Dixon, of Arizona, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service for a term expiring October 6, 2018, vice Matthew Francis McCabe, term expired.

Todd A. Fisher, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a term expiring December 17, 2016, vice James A. Torrey, term expired.

Paul A. Folmsbee, of Oklahoma, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Mali.

Earl L. Gay, of the District of Columbia, to be Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management, vice Christine M. Griffin.

Jeffery S. Hall, of Kentucky, to be a Member of the Farm Credit Administration Board, Farm Credit Administration, for a term expiring October 13, 2018, vice Leland A. Strom, term expired.

Jennifer Ann Haverkamp, of Indiana, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, vice Kerri-Ann Jones, resigned.

Victoria Ann Hughes, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service for a term expiring October 6, 2016, vice James Palmer, term expired.

Adri Davin Jayaratne, of Michigan, to be an Assistant Secretary of Labor, vice Brian Vincent Kennedy.

David Avren Jones, of Connecticut, to be a Member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board for a term expiring October 11, 2018.  (Reappointment).

Mary Lucille Jordan, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission for a term of six years expiring August 30, 2020.  (Reappointment)

Michael D. Kennedy, of Georgia, to be a Member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board for a term expiring September 25, 2018.  (Reappointment).

Marisa Lago, of New York, to be a Deputy United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador, vice Miriam E. Sapiro, resigned.

Michelle K. Lee, of California, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, vice David J. Kappos, resigned.

Eric P. Liu, of Washington, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service for a term expiring December 27, 2017, vice Layshae Ward, term expired.

Rafael J. López, of California, to be Commissioner on Children, Youth, and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, vice Bryan Hayes Samuels, resigned.

Daniel Henry Marti, of Virginia, to be Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Executive Office of the President, vice Victoria Angelica Espinel, resigned.

Therese W. McMillan, of California, to be Federal Transit Administrator, vice Peter M. Rogoff, resigned.

Dava J. Newman, of Massachusetts, to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, vice Lori Garver, resigned.

Deven J. Parekh, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a term expiring December 17, 2016, vice Katherine M. Gehl, resigned.

Azita Raji, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Sweden.

Mark Scarano, of New Hampshire, to be Federal Cochairperson of the Northern Border Regional Commission, vice Sandford Blitz, resigned.

David S. Shapira, of Pennsylvania, to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service for a term expiring December 8, 2019, vice Dennis J. Toner, term expired.

Carlos J. Torres, of Virginia, to be Deputy Director of the Peace Corps, vice Carolyn Hessler Radelet, resigned.

Michael Young, of Pennsylvania, to be a Member of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission for a term of six years expiring August 30, 2020.  (Reappointment)

Press Gaggle aboard Air Force One en route Andrews AFB, 01/08/15

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Andrews Air Force Base 

12:38 P.M. MST

MR. EARNEST:  Ready to get started?  I've got a few things at the top.  The first is, as we speak, the President has convened a call with his national security team back in Washington, D.C. They’re going to do a couple things on the call.  The first is the President is going to get an update on the latest on the investigation that the French are conducting into the terror attacks that happened yesterday.  The second is the President is going to get a review of terror threat information -- this is something the President does periodically and he convened a meeting shortly before the holidays to get an update on the terror threat, and he’s going to get a brief update on that today.

I would point out in that context, however, that the Department of Homeland Security has said there’s no indication of a specific threat related to yesterday’s attack.  So it's important to keep that in mind even as the President gets this kind of update.

Q    -- in the United States?

MR. EARNEST:  Yes.  I'm sorry if I didn’t say that.  So thank you for helping to clarify.

The third thing is they’re going to discuss the security posture that is in place to protect Americans both at home and around the world.  And this is the thing that's always foremost on the President’s mind.  When we see terrible incidents like this that strike in other countries we want to make sure that we're doing every single thing that we can at U.S. facilities, military and diplomatic, around the globe to protect Americans there.

Participants on that call will include senior officials from the FBI, the Department of Justice, the CIA, the DNI, NCTC, and of course, the Department of Homeland Security.

The second thing is, prior to that call, the President had the opportunity to telephone United States Senator Barbara Boxer from California.  A little bit earlier today, she announced her intention to retire at the end of this session of Congress.  She serves the people of California with distinction in the United States Congress, and the President wanted to take the opportunity to call her and congratulate her on her retirement and to thank her for her many years of service.

Finally -- and this is a little different from those previous two things -- I also want to make note of the fact that it's been almost two months now that the President nominated U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch to succeed Eric Holder as the next Attorney General of the United States.  Despite the fact that she was nominated nearly two months ago, a date for her hearing has not yet been set by the United States Senate. 

Now, you’ll recall that we had a little bit of a conversation shortly after her nomination -- I think even before her nomination -- that there was a pretty clear precedent for a prompt consideration of national security officials who have been nominated to important positions -- for them to be considered promptly and confirmed promptly by the Senate.  We even talked about the fact that there’s a precedent for the prompt consideration of those individuals in a lame duck session.  But because of the President’s desire to work with the incoming Republican majority, we held off on insisting that she be confirmed in the lame duck and said that we would allow her to be considered by the incoming Congress.

Now, this is a very important job, obviously, and she is somebody who was previously confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate for the federal prosecutor job that she currently holds.  I guess the point is she deserves a lot better treatment than she’s currently receiving.  We would like for the United States Senate to set a date for her hearing as soon as possible in the month of January -- certainly no later than the end of January -- because we believe it's important for the Senate to act promptly on her nomination and we would like to see her confirmed before the Congress goes on their mid-February recess.

So we believe that her nomination can and should be considered during this work period.  We believe strongly that she deserves careful consideration and strong bipartisan support.  That's what she got when she was nominated just a couple of years ago to be the federal prosecutor in New York City.  And we believe that she should get the same consideration, that she should be considered promptly, that she should be confirmed in bipartisan fashion before the end of this work period in Congress.

So with that long windup, let’s go to your questions.

Q    Back to the situation in France and the President’s meeting today.  Now that French authorities have put out the names of the suspects in this attack, there’s been some report that they were known to U.S. officials.  Can you say whether that's the case and whether having the names has given the U.S. any more information about any links they may have to terror organizations?

MR. EARNEST:  I'm not in a position to comment on any aspect of the ongoing French investigation at this point.  I will say -- and I mentioned this a little bit yesterday -- that when the President spoke to President Hollande on the telephone, the President pledged to offer any needed assistance in their investigation.  And the United States obviously has a very strong counterterrorism partnership that’s in place with France, and we share a lot of different information.  And if we can be helpful in sharing any sort of intelligence that we’ve collected that will aid their investigation, then we’ll certainly do that.

Q    Is that happening at this point?  Have the French taken you up on that offer? 

MR. EARNEST:  It’s my understanding that there have been frequent conversations between a variety of American national security officials and their French counterparts, including conversations between members of our intelligence community.  But I’m not in a position to talk about the details or the content of those conversations.

Q    The speech today had a passing reference to Fannie and Freddie, and following the speech both of their stocks dropped nearly 10 percent based on the remarks that the President does still want to wind them down.  Was it his intent to say something new on that?  Or was that a market reaction that was not anticipated?

MR. EARNEST:  Well, I would hesitate to try to decipher some sort of market reaction.  But what the President did say in his remarks is consistent with our past comments on this issue.  The President has articulated his concerns with the way that those programs are currently structured, and there is a proposal that we’ve put forward for putting in place some reforms that would be good for the housing sector, good for homeowners, and good for taxpayers.  But the President was not hinting at any sort of new policy position with regard to those two entities.

Q    Just to clarify that, there was no departure intended in any way in his remarks from what the current policy, standing policy on Fannie and Freddie has been?

MR. EARNEST:  That’s correct.  There was no change in our posture as it relates to our policy and our view of needed reforms for Fannie and Freddie. 

Q    Josh, what can you tell us about what the President will propose tomorrow for community colleges?  And is he looking to emulate what Tennessee has done with their tuition programs?

MR. EARNEST:  I don’t have a lot right now on tomorrow’s events.  I can tell you that one of the reasons that we are going to Tennessee is that the state of Tennessee has worked hard to open up the doors to a college education to more middle-class students in Tennessee.  That is a laudable goal.  That is an effort that has already yielded important economic benefits for that state. 

I’d also note that those kinds of reforms and some of those pretty innovative policies were put in place by a Republican governor, and are, I understand, supported by the Republicans senators from that state.  So there’s no reason that these kinds of efforts to make a college education more affordable and make sure that middle-class students are getting access to a high-quality education and job training that’s needed to get a good middle-class job -- there’s no reason that that should be a partisan issue.  And the President is hopeful that we’ll be able to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to make some progress in that area.  But the President will have more to say on this tomorrow.

Q    Is his announcement tomorrow going to be something that he can do executively?  Or is it going to require congressional authorization?

MR. EARNEST:  I think there will be an allusion to some executive actions that are possible, but what the President has in mind tomorrow will be some steps that we can take with Congress -- again, steps that have been embraced in bipartisan fashion in Tennessee and we believe should be embraced in bipartisan fashion on Capitol Hill.

Q    Josh, on Lynch, Grassley’s office said yesterday to us that they had told you guys they were going to do hearings at the end of January or early February.  Is that wrong?  Did they not tell you guys that?

MR. EARNEST:  I’m not aware of a conversation like that occurring.  Now, I obviously was on the road yesterday.  But based on some conversations that I’ve had with my White House colleagues today, I’m not aware that a specific date has been either --

Q    Not a specific date, but --

MR. EARNEST:  -- communicated to us or set.  And that is what we’re focused on.

Again, she was nominated almost two months ago.  And there would have been a very clear precedent for us to urge Congress -- urge the Senate to take up her nomination when there was a Democratic majority to fill this very important national security position.  And we did not do that out of deference to the Republican -- the incoming Republican majority.  And it seems appropriate that that incoming Republican majority would act quickly to schedule a specific date as soon as possible in January, but certainly no later than the end of the month, and then to vote on her nomination before the end of the work period. And we’re confident that if a vote is held and her nomination is carefully considered that she’ll get strong bipartisan support. She certainly deserves it.

Q    Is there anything you guys can do to urge that along besides standing here and saying that?  (Laughter.) 

MR. EARNEST:  You mean beyond the very persuasive message that I’ve tried to send from here?

Q    Yes.

MR. EARNEST:  If there is, we’ll let you know.

Q    Anything on Ash Carter yet?  Forgive my ignorance on that one.

MR. EARNEST:  I don’t know that there’s one that’s been announced publicly.  He obviously was announced -- nominated more recently.  But we wouldn’t want the consideration of his nomination to be subjected to undue delay either.  So we obviously -- both Ms. Lynch and Mr. Carter have important positions and important work ahead of them, and we hope that the Senate will carefully consider their nomination, do it promptly, and give them the bipartisan support they deserve.

Q    And on the topic of nominations, what about Antonio Weiss?  Any updates on timing?

MR. EARNEST:  No updates on that.

Q    Josh, the Gabby Giffords meeting today -- can you tell us any more about that meeting with the President, any more detail?  And how did that meeting come about?  Did the President initiate that meeting?

MR. EARNEST:  The President did invite Ms. Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, to come to the event in Phoenix.  The President, over the last several years, has had an opportunity in a variety of settings to meet with the two of them.  So the President is obviously very fond of Ms. Giffords and is, as I think you could tell from his public remarks today, remarkably impressed by the kind of courage that she has shown under unthinkably difficult circumstances.  And the President is, like the rest of the country and certainly like the people of Arizona, incredibly proud of her.  She is a genuine hero.  And the President was pleased to have the opportunity to visit with her briefly backstage. 

It was a pretty informal opportunity for them to catch up.  There was no specific, serious business discussed, but rather an opportunity for the President just to see her again and to wish her well on a fateful anniversary.

Q    Giffords and her husband have obviously been big advocates of gun control legislation.  Did they bring this up with the President at all?  Did he say anything to them about any plan that he might have to try to bring this back up before the end of his presidency?

MR. EARNEST:  I don’t know, frankly, if they discussed that issue.  That is something that they have talked about in the past.  The President certainly appreciates their leadership on this issue.  This is something that the President has been fighting for and something that they’ve been very vocal about, too.  So he certainly appreciates their leadership.  I don’t, frankly, know whether or not they discussed it today.

Q    Did the White House give any consideration to having the President visit the VA hospital in Phoenix while he was here?

MR. EARNEST:  Not really.  The President traveled to Arizona because Arizona was one of the states that was most hardest-hit  -- or at least the housing market in Arizona was the most-hardest hit or among the most hardest-hit states in the country in the midst of the housing downturn.  And so this was an appropriate venue for the President to talk about some steps that he believes we can take, and the steps that he has taken, using his executive authority, to try to build on the momentum in the housing market. These are the kinds of -- these are common-sense steps that will save middle-class homeowners $900 a year and would benefit hundreds of thousands of homeowners over the next couple of years.

But I certainly do welcome what I perceive to be some renewed interest in the story about what’s happening at the VA facility in Phoenix.  So if you’ll indulge me for just a minute, I will note --

Q    You have some statistics?

MR. EARNEST:  I do.  Since June, more than 300 employees have started -- more than 300 new employees have started work at the VA facility in Phoenix.  And it’s no coincidence that after those employees have taken office and some reforms have been put in place that there’s been a 19 percent increase in the number of appointments that have been scheduled and completed in the period between May and October.  That’s a total of more than 300,000 appointments that have been conducted.  Wait times at this facility have been reduced by 30 percent over that same period. 

You’ll recall that the Phoenix facility was the first stop of both Sloan Gibson when he served as the Acting Director of the VA and the first stop of the relatively new VA Secretary, Bob McDonald.  Some of the reforms that were put in place in Phoenix have been put in place at VA facilities across the country, and we’ve seen corresponding improvements in the operations of VA facilities across the country. 

Some of those improvements are also the result of 19 executive actions that the President announced back in August to try to improve service delivery for our veterans at VA facilities across the country.  And the President is certainly pleased that they’ve made these kinds of improvements.  This is a priority for this administration.  There’s obviously a lot more to do, and the President is going to continue to make sure that these issues are getting the focus that they need internally, that we can continue making important progress on these reforms.

Q    Speaker Boehner indicated he was still waiting for a proposal from the President about reform.  Do you see it that way?

MR. EARNEST:  Well, I guess what I would say is there are a number of reforms that have already been put in place -- that the President has put in place using his executive authority that are already showing substantial improvement.  And if there are ideas that Democrats and Republicans in Congress have for further strengthening the operations at the VA we certainly would welcome the opportunity to work in bipartisan support to make sure that we’re living up to the commitment that we made to our veterans.

Q    We drove by the facility on the way into the high school and on the way out.  Was the feeling that if the President had stopped there, it would have been like a photo op and the kind of thing you guys have said you’re not interested in?

MR. EARNEST:  No, it’s just a simple matter of the President was there to talk about the housing market and the way that the state of Arizona is starting to show some building momentum in the housing market in a way that’s good for that sector of the economy and good for middle-class homeowners not just in Arizona but across the country.  And so it seemed an appropriate venue for the President to talk about an executive action that he wants to take that’s actually going to save homeowners money.  So he was just there to talk about a different topic.

Q    Thanks, Josh.

MR. EARNEST:  Anybody else?  Okay.  Thanks, guys.

END
12:54 P.M. MST

Remarks by the President on Housing -- Phoenix, AZ

Central High School
Phoenix, Arizona

11:06 A.M. MST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Arizona!  (Applause.)  Hey!  (Applause.)  Happy New Year, Arizona.  (Applause.)  Go, Bobcats. (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  (Applause.)   

It’s good to be in Phoenix.  (Applause.)  And I mean that, because I was in Detroit yesterday, which is a great city but it was 60 degrees colder.  (Laughter.)  So it feels pretty good, this weather right here.  I had a couple staff people who said, we’re going to miss the plane.  (Laughter.)  They’re just going to try to get stranded here for a while.  (Laughter.) 

But I went to Detroit, I went here -- I guess between the Lions and the Cardinals, this is my post-wild card consolation tour.  (Laughter.)  As a Bears fan, I want you to know that, first of all, you guys did a lot better than we did.  (Laughter.) You got a great coach; you got a great team.  You had some bad luck.  And there’s always next year.  So keep your chin up.  Keep your chin up.  

I want to thank Secretary Castro not just for the terrific introduction, but for the great job he’s doing every day.  (Applause.)  I want to thank your Congressman, Ruben Gallego.  (Applause.)  Where’s Ruben?  Where is he?  Ruben, I already liked him, and then he told me he was from Chicago originally, before he got smart and moved to warmer weather (Laughter.) 

I want to thank your Mayor, Greg Stanton.  (Applause.)  He was there.  There he is.  Greg is doing a great job.  I want to thank your principal, John Biera, Jr.  (Applause.)  And your superintendent, Kent Scribner.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank all the students and staff and faculty who may be here.  We really appreciate your hospitality.

One last acknowledgement.  I had a chance to meet a couple of really good friends -- Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords. (Applause.)  This was a remarkable meeting for me because it was four years ago today that Gabby and some other wonderful Arizonans were gunned down outside a supermarket in Tucson.  It's a tough day for a lot of folks down there.  We keep them in our thoughts and prayers. 

But Gabby is doing great.  She looks wonderful, and she’s got the same energy and passion that she always has had.  Even as she’s waged her own fight to recover, she’s fought to prevent the next tragedies from happening to others.  She’s a hero, and she is a great Arizonan.  (Applause.)  So we’re really proud of her.  And her brother, who is also an astronaut -- her brother-in-law, who’s also an astronaut, is going to be in space for a year. He was just on the cover of Time Magazine, which I know there’s some folks in Washington who wish I was going to be in space for a year, but -- (laughter) -- but I'm still around.  (Applause.)  Because I got some work to do.

Now, I am here because one of my New Year’s resolutions is to make sure more Americans in Phoenix and in Arizona and all across the country feel like they’re coming back.  Because the country is coming back, but I want everybody to feel like things are getting better and we are moving in the right direction.  And let there be no doubt -- thanks to the steps we took early on to rescue our economy, to rebuild it on a new foundation, America is coming back.  (Applause.) 

And that’s not just my own opinion.  Here are the facts.  2014 was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s.  (Applause.)  We’ve had 57 straight months of private sector job growth, created nearly 11 million new jobs.  (Applause.)  Since 2010, we’ve put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every advanced economy combined.  (Applause.)  American manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace since the ‘90s.  We’re now the number-one producer of oil, of gas.  And by the way, you’re saving about a buck-ten a gallon at the pump over this time last year.  (Applause.)

Although I was in Detroit and I told folks yesterday, gas prices aren’t going to be low forever, so don’t start suddenly saying you don’t have to worry about fuel efficiency.  If you’re going out shopping for a new car, don’t think it’s always going to be this low, because then you’ll be surprised and you’ll be mad at me later -- (laughter) -- and I’ll be able to say, I told you don’t get a gas guzzler because gas is going to go back up. But while it’s low, enjoy it.  And feel free to spend some of that money on local businesses, who then will hire more people and put more folks back to work.  (Applause.)

Meanwhile, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, about 10 million Americans have gained health insurance in the past year alone.  (Applause.) 

We’ve done all this while cutting our federal deficit by about two-thirds.  And I’m going to repeat that, because they did a poll the other day and like 70 percent of the people think the deficit is going up.  No, 70 percent of the people.  You stop people on the street -- 7 out of 10 think the deficit is going up.  The deficit has gone down by two-thirds since I was President of the United States.  (Applause.)  So we’re doing all this in a fiscally responsible way.  (Applause.)

And maybe closest to my heart, after 13 long years, our war in Afghanistan has come to a responsible end, which means more of our brave troops spent time with their families this holiday season, right here back home.  (Applause.) 

So these last six years required hard work and sacrifice by everybody.  But as a country, we have a right to be proud that all that hard work paid off.  America’s resurgence is real.  And now that we’ve got some calmer waters out there, if everybody does their part, if we all work together, we can make sure that the tide starts lifting all boats again.  We can get wages and incomes growing faster.  We can make sure the middle class is growing, that the ladders of the middle class for folks who are struggling are firm and steady and have a lot of rungs to them.  Because it’s the middle class, it’s working families that power America’s prosperity.  That’s always been the case; that will be true for decades to come.  (Applause.)

And I’ve got a State of the Union address in about two weeks and that’s what I want to talk about -- building on the progress we’ve made.  But of course, why wait for the State of the Union? It’s sort of like you’ve got presents under the tree, you kind of start shaking them a little bit.  (Laughter.)  I want to kind of give you a little sense of what I want to talk about.  So we’re going to start this week laying out some of the agenda for the next year.

And here in Phoenix, I want to talk about helping more families afford their piece of the American Dream, and that is owning their own home.  (Applause.)  

Now, let me just say, right now Michelle and I live in rental housing.  (Laughter.)  We don’t own where we live.  We’ve got two years remaining on our lease.  (Laughter.)  I’m hoping I get my security deposit back.  (Laughter.)  Although Bo and Sunny have been tearing things up occasionally -- we’re going to have to clean things up a little bit.  (Laughter.)

But I’ll never forget the day we bought our first place, a place of our own -- a condo, back in Chicago.  And for us, and millions of Americans like us, buying a home has always been about more than owning a roof and four walls.  It’s about investing in savings, and building a family, and planting roots in a community.  So we bought this place -- it was about, I guess, probably about 2,000 square feet.  It was in this complex called East View Park.  It was sort of like a railway apartment. And it felt huge when we moved in.  And then Malia and Sasha were born, and their toys got everywhere.  (Laughter.)  And then it felt small because they basically took over the whole dining room with their toys. 

But I have such good memories not just about the place itself, but all the work we had to do to save to get in there, and then to fix it up, and that sense of accomplishment that you were building something for your family and for your future.

And that's always been true.  When my grandfather came back from World War II, this country gave him the chance to buy his first home with a loan from the FHA.  For folks like him, a home was proof that America was a place where if you worked hard, if you were responsible, it was rewarded. 

But we all know what happened in the last decade when responsibility gave way to recklessness.  Families who did the right thing and bought a home that they could afford, and made their payments each month, and did everything right, when the market plummeted they got hurt.  Even though somebody else was acting irresponsibly -- whether on Wall Street, or folks who weren’t responsible in terms of how they were dealing with their real estate -- ordinary families got hurt bad.  And that was especially true here in Arizona. 

There were folks who borrowed more than they should have.  There were lenders who really were just worried about making profits and not whether the people they were lending to were going to be able to keep up their homes.  So home values plunged. Americans sank underwater.  Foreclosures skyrocketed.  Builders stopped building.  Construction workers lost their jobs. 

And when I came into office, I believed we could not let this crisis play itself out.  If we could save more families from losing everything they had worked so hard to build, we had to make the effort.  So less than a month after I took office, I came here to Arizona to lay out my plan to get responsible homeowners back on their feet.  And I said that healing our housing market wouldn’t be easy, it would not be quick.  But we were going to act swiftly, we were going to act boldly, we were going to try everything that we could to help responsible homeowners.  If something didn't work, we’d try something else.  But we were going to try to keep folks in their homes.

And we ended up helping millions stay in their homes.  We helped millions more save thousands of dollars each year by refinancing.  We helped folks who didn’t want to buy a home or who weren’t ready to buy find an affordable place to rent.  We kept up our fight against homelessness.  And by the way -- there’s some homeless advocates here -- since 2010, we’ve helped bring one in three homeless veterans off the streets.  (Applause.)  And I want to make sure everybody knows -- under Mayor Stanton, Phoenix is leading the way in that effort.  (Applause.)  Phoenix is doing a great job.  (Applause.)

So as a result of all these efforts, today, home sales are up nearly 50 percent from where they were in the worst of the crisis.  Homebuilding has more than doubled.  That's created hundreds of thousands of construction jobs.  New foreclosures are at their lowest level since 2006.  Since 2012, nearly 10 million fewer Americans have their homes underwater.  Rising home prices have put hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth back in the pockets of middle-class families.

Now, I want everybody to be clear -- this progress is not an accident.  It is not luck.  It’s what happens when you have policies that put middle-class families first.  (Applause.) 

And what’s true in Arizona is true all across the country:  We’ve still got some more work to do, our job is not done, but what we're doing is working.  And we’ve got to keep at it.  We’ve got to stay at it. 

Today, here in Phoenix, I’m going to take a new action to help even more responsible families stake their claim on the middle class and buy their first new home.  Starting this month, the Federal Housing Authority will lower its mortgage insurance premium rates enough to save the average new borrower more than $900 a year.  (Applause.)  Now, that's $900 that can go towards paying the groceries, or gas, or a child’s education.  Or, depending on what your mortgage is, it might be a month’s mortgage payment. 

And for those who aren’t familiar with FHA, FHA underwrites, it guarantees, it’s the backstop for a lot of loans around the country, especially for middle-class folks.  So a lot of people pay these fees, and if they’re saving $900 that’s money that’s going to be going throughout the economy. 

Over the next three years, these lower premiums will give hundreds of thousands more families the chance to own their own home, and it will help make owning a home more affordable for millions more households overall in the coming years. 

And just to give you an example, earlier today, Secretary Castro and I visited Nueva Villas.  It’s a new neighborhood here in Phoenix where a lot of families are buying homes with the help of the FHA.  And we actually -- this was a big development that wasn’t finished or wasn’t all sold; the crisis came, half the homes were still unsold.  Folks lost their homes.  It started getting boarded up.  People were feeling insecure.  It was starting to get depressed.  Nonprofits, with the help of HUD, came in, purchased some of the properties, hired local residents to rehab them.  Now people are building them -- beautiful homes. And with the help of the FHA, we can now make sure that more people are getting access to these homes.  And today’s action will mean more money in the pockets of families like the ones that we’ve met. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Is this about housing?  (Laughter.)  All right. 

And keep in mind, hundreds of thousands of new buyers is going to mean a healthier housing market for everybody.  So how many people here own their own home?  (Applause.)  All right.  So even though you’ve already got your mortgage or your loan, already have your home, if your neighbors are buying more homes, that’s lifting the whole market here, which means the value of your home starts going up.  And that’s good for you.  (Applause.)  It means fewer foreclosure signs as people fix up old properties.  It means more construction, which means more jobs, which means a better economy.  So this is the kind of boost that we need to keep the momentum that we have seen over the last several years -- keep it going here in Phoenix and all across the country. 

So I want to be clear.  If you’re looking to take advantage of these lower rates, that’s great.  On the other hand, don’t buy something you can’t afford.  (Applause.)  You’re going to be out of luck.  These rates are for responsible buyers.  We’re not going down the road again of financing folks buying things they can’t afford.  We’re going to be cracking down on that.  We put in place tough rules on Wall Street and we created a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and we’re really policing irresponsible lenders luring folks into buying stuff they can’t afford.  (Applause.) 

And we designed a mortgage form that’s written in simple language so that people understand what the commitments are when you buy a home.  We’re cracking down on some of the worst practices that led to the housing crisis.  We’re going to protect middle-class families from getting ripped off.

And that’s why we had the Justice Department fight for buyers who were discriminated against or preyed upon, and we won a settlement that awarded more money to victims in one year than in the previous 23 years combined.  (Applause.)  That’s why we worked with states to force big banks to repay more than $50 billion to more than 1.5 million borrowers who had been treated wrongly -- and that was the largest lending settlement in history.  (Applause.)  And that’s why I’ve called on Congress to wind down the government-backed companies known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

So the bottom line is we don't think there’s anything wrong with pursuing a profit, but we want to make clear the days of making bad bets on the backs of taxpayer money and then getting bailed out afterwards -- we're not going back to that.  (Applause.)  We've worked too hard, and everything we’ve done to heal the housing markets we want to preserve.  But we do want to make sure that the housing market is strong and that responsible homeowners can get a good deal.  For people who have saved, done the right thing, now are looking to buy their first home, we want to make sure that they get a little bit of help.

In the end, everything we've done to heal the housing market is about more than just restoring housing values.  It's about restoring our common values.  It's about who we are as a country and who we are as communities.  

And I want to just tell you a quick story.  Lorraine Cona, from Sun City, next door, she did everything right.  She had a good job as a librarian.  She bought a home she could afford.  She wanted to retire in that home.  She made her payments on time.  Then, five years ago, through no fault of her own, she was laid off, and she started falling behind in her payments.  She knew foreclosure was coming.  She said, “I’d look out the window and I’d see somebody taking pictures of my house.”

But when things seemed darkest, Lorraine learned about something called the Hardest Hit fund –- it's a program that we created to help folks in states like Arizona that had been especially hard hit by the real estate crash.  And they helped her make her late payments -- because she had a great track record until she had lost her job.  They set her up with financial counseling so she could stay on track.  It wasn’t easy, but Lorraine repaired her credit.  She refinanced her mortgage.  And today, after a lifetime of hard work, Lorraine is retired, she’s back to making her payments every single month.  She’s in her home.  She was able to accomplish that.  Even though it was scary at times, she got it done.  Lorraine came back, just like Phoenix has come back.  (Applause.)  Just like Arizona has come back.  Just like America has come back.  (Applause.) 

It’s not just the economy turning around.  It’s turning around the lives of hardworking people, making sure that that hard work finally pays off.  (Applause.)  It’s making sure you finally get that job you’re looking for, or the raise you deserve, or a little bit of security, or the retirement that you’ve earned, or being able to send your kid to college so their lives are better than yours.  (Applause.)  That's what this is about. 

So I just want everybody to know that we have been through some tough times, but we are moving.  There are workers today with jobs who didn’t have jobs last year.  There are families who have got health insurance who didn’t have health insurance before.  (Applause.)  There are students who are in college right now who didn’t think they could afford it before.  (Applause.) There are heroes who had served tour after tour who are finally home with their families.  There are autoworkers who are building great American cars now when they thought that those plants were going to shut down. 

America is coming back.  (Applause.)  And the key, Arizona, is for us all to work together to make sure we keep it going.
   
Thank you, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) 

END
11:29 A.M. MST