White House.gov Press Office Feed
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Readout of President's Meeting with NATO Secretary General Rasmussen
- ROADS: Rebuild 150,000 miles of roads – renewing our commitment to the backbone of our transportation system;
- RAILWAYS: Construct and maintain 4,000 miles of rail – enough to go coast-to-coast;
- RUNWAYS: Rehabilitate or reconstruct 150 miles of runway – while putting in place a NextGen system that will reduce travel time and delays.
- An up-front investment. The President will work with Congress to enact a new up-front investment in our nation’s infrastructure – an investment that would help jump-start additional job creation, while also laying the foundation for future growth. This initial investment would fund improvements in the nation’s surface transportation, as well as our airports and air traffic control system.
- A vision for the future. The President proposes to pair this with a long-term framework to reform and expand our nation’s investment in transportation infrastructure. Since the end of last year, when the last long-term surface transportation legislation expired, these investments have been continued on a temporary basis, even as the trust fund to finance them has fallen into insolvency. If we are to enjoy the benefits that come from a world-class transportation system, Congress must enact a long-term reauthorization that expands and reforms our infrastructure investments and returns the transportation trust fund to solvency. To jumpstart job creation, this long-run policy front-loads – through a $50 billion up-front investment – a significant share of the new infrastructure resources. As with other long-run policies, the Administration is committed to working with Congress to fully pay for the plan.
- The establishment of an Infrastructure Bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on investments of national and regional significance that often fall through the cracks in the current siloed transportation programs;
- The integration of high-speed rail on an equal footing into the surface transportation program to ensure a sustained and effective commitment to a national high speed rail system over the next generation;
- Streamlining, modernizing, and prioritizing surface transportation investments, consolidating more than 100 different programs and focusing on using performance measurement and “race-to-the-top” style competitive pressures to drive investment toward better policy outcomes.
- Expanding investments in areas like safety, environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability – helping to build communities where people have choices about how to travel, including options that reduce oil consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and expand access to job opportunities and housing that’s affordable.
- Roads. The nation’s highways serve as the backbone of our transportation system. Many roads and bridges are in need of repair and expansion and many of the Americans who want to do this work face high unemployment right now. Our investments would be focused on modernizing the highway system’s critical assets while providing much-needed jobs.
- Rail. Many parts of transit systems have been allowed to fall into a state of ill-repair. The President’s plan would help address this by making a major new investment in the nation’s bus and rail transit system. The Administration is also committed to expanding public transit systems and would dedicate significant new funding to the “New Starts” program – which supports locally planned, implemented, and operated major transit projects. In addition, the Administration is committed to building on its investments so far in high-speed rail – constructing a system that will increase convenience and productivity, while also reducing our nation’s dependence on oil and cutting down on pollution. The President’s plan would also invest in a long-overdue overhaul of Amtrak’s fleet.
- Runways & NextGen. The Administration proposes to invest in our nation’s airports by improving their runways and other equipment and facilities. We also propose a robust investment in our effort to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system (NextGen). This investment will help both the FAA and airlines to install new technologies and, among other improvements, move from a national ground-based radar surveillance system to a more accurate satellite-based surveillance system – the backbone of a broader effort to reduce delays for passengers, increase fuel efficiency for carriers, and cut airport noise for those who live and work near airports.
- Infrastructure Bank. The President proposes to fund a permanent infrastructure bank. This bank would leverage private and state and local capital to invest in projects that are most critical to our economic progress. This marks an important departure from the federal government’s traditional way of spending on infrastructure through earmarks and formula-based grants that are allocated more by geography and politics than demonstrated value. Instead, the Bank will base its investment decisions on clear analytical measures of performance, competing projects against each other to determine which will produce the greatest return for American taxpayers.
- engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
- engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or
- serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.
The President welcomed NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the Oval Office earlier today. The President thanked the Secretary General for the significant NATO commitment to promoting peace and stability around the world, particularly in Afghanistan where nearly 50,000 non-U.S. ISAF troops, trainers, and civilians are serving alongside Americans with distinction. The two leaders discussed progress in implementing our shared strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and ways to further strengthen the international community’s efforts. The President and the Secretary General discussed goals for the November 19 - 20 NATO Summit in Lisbon, including unveiling a new NATO Strategic Concept that reinforces the allied commitment to invest in 21st Century capabilities, particularly missile defense, cyber defense, and civilian-military capabilities; reforming NATO’s structures to make it more agile and efficient to take on the range of challenges that face allied countries today; and affirming NATO’s role as the hub of a network of security partnerships that advance global stability. The President looks forward to further discussing these issues with the Secretary General and other allied and ISAF partner leaders at the November Summit.
Statement by the Press Secretary on the President's Call with Prime Minister Gillard of Australia
Today, President Obama was pleased to call Julia Gillard to offer his congratulations on her successful formation of a government and becoming the new Prime Minister of Australia. The President conveyed his personal commitment, and the commitment of the United States, to the enduring alliance between our two nations, which advances our shared interests and values. The President and Prime Minister agreed to work closely to ensure our common security and prosperity, in the Asia Pacific and around the world. The President looks forward to working with Prime Minister Gillard at the G-20 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summits in November, and is confident that the U.S-Australian alliance will only grow stronger in the years ahead.
Remarks by the First Lady at Judith Jamison Dance Celebration
5:10 P.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you, everyone. (Applause.) Please, sit, relax.
Welcome to my home. Welcome to the White House. (Laughter.) And thank you, Damian, for that wonderful introduction. Damian has made so many outstanding contributions in the arts, from his time as a world-renowned dancer to the work as Artistic Director of the Vail International Dance Festival to his service as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities today. So I thank you for your pirouettes -- (laughter) -- but for all that you’ve done for the arts and for all of the hard work that you’ve put in to pulling together today’s program.
I'd like to just take a few moments and recognize some people -- first of all, the co-chairs of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities: Margo Lion and George Stevens, Jr. I want to thank them and all of the members of the committee for their work on behalf of the arts and the humanities. I want to recognize Representative Chaka Fattah and his wife Renee, who are here, as well. It’s good to have you both.
And of course I want to give a warm welcome to all the young dancers who are here today. Let’s give them a round of applause. (Applause.) So, we could hear you a little bit upstairs. (Laughter.) Did you all have fun this afternoon?
DANCERS: Yes!
MRS. OBAMA: Did you work up a good sweat?
DANCERS: Yes!
MRS. OBAMA: Well, good. That’s a good thing. I’m also doing “Let’s Move,” so that's good -- moving, dancing, all that stuff.
These young men and women are from Michigan, and New York, Philadelphia, Delaware, Chicago -- South Side! -- (laughter) -- and right here in Washington, and they just finished, as Damian mentioned, an hour-and-a-half workshop with some of the most distinguished dance companies in our country. And I am so thrilled that they could all be here today as we kick off our new White House Dance Series.
Now, this is something that we’ve been thinking about and talking about doing for awhile. And you probably already heard a little bit about our music series where we showcase a whole range of different genres of music -- from classical to country, to the music of the Civil Rights movement.
But we’re pivoting off that theme today, but instead of hearing the beauty of song, we’ll witness the glory of movement. It’s a good thing. (Applause.) And we’ve got a little something for everyone. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is here. (Applause.) “Billy Elliott the Musical,” they’re here. (Applause.) The New York City Ballet. (Applause.) Paul Taylor Dance Company. (Applause.) Super Cr3w. (Applause.) And the Washington Ballet. (Applause.) They’re all here today. It’s very exciting. (Applause.) So from ballet to Broadway to hip-hop, today is a celebration of some of the most beautiful, powerful, and emotional aspects of American dance.
But today isn’t simply about these performances or the new dance series or even these talented, young dancers. What brings us together today is the extraordinary career of an amazing, phenomenal, fly woman -- (laughter) -- the renowned dancer, choreographer, and artistic director Judith Jamison. (Applause.)
So let’s embarrass Judith a bit. Would you please stand, my dear -- I know, I know, it’s the lights. (Applause.) Thank you, Judith. Thank you so much. (Applause.) This amazing woman, born in Philadelphia, she was onstage in New York with the American Ballet Theater by her early 20s. Ten years ago, right? (Laughter.) After just one year, she joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where her shooting star connected with Alvin’s.
And their artistry continues to shine brightly to this very day. Judith, as we all know, was Alvin Ailey’s muse. He crafted pieces just for her, including “Cry,” which we all know is a 15-minute solo work, and we’re going to see a portion of that piece in just a moment. It’s a good thing. (Applause.) After 15 years as lead dancer, she branched off from Alvin Ailey’s company in 1980 to perform and choreograph on her own. But in 1989, in failing health, Alvin named Judith as his successor.
In the years since, she has earned the National Medal of the Arts and an Emmy. She has become a Kennedy Center Honoree. And she has distinguished herself as a true visionary in the world of dance.
Her work has been an inspiration to me personally and to the President. Let me tell you, your picture in “Cry” was the only piece of art we had in our house. (Laughter.) And the girls remember it. They’re like, is that the lady in the picture? (Laughter.) That’s her.
So we’re thrilled to host her here at the White House in our home. After my husband’s inauguration, our family’s very first trip to the Kennedy Center was for the Alvin Ailey 50th anniversary performance. That was great.
And for years I have gone to watch Judith’s company whenever and wherever I can. And I always try to bring these two little women with me because I want them to see Judith’s gifts on display, because I want them to witness the grace and the beauty that stirs our souls and connects us to each other like nothing else can.
And in her biography, entitled “Dancing Spirit,” Judith wrote -- these are her words: “Dancing is bigger than the physical body. Think bigger than that,” she said. “When you extend your arm, it doesn't stop at the end of your fingers, because you're dancing bigger than that. You're dancing spirit.”
In so many ways, Judith Jamison embodies that spirit –- a spirit that is alive in all the dancers she’s inspired, in all the pieces she’s perfected, in all the audiences she has moved and uplifted.
And today, we honor Judith for all she has achieved and all she has contributed not just to our country but to the world.
And now, I can think of no better way to begin the White House Dance Series than with an excerpt from “Cry” by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was a gift from Alvin to his mother, and Judith made it famous. Now, it is a gift from us to her. So enjoy. And thank you all for being here. (Applause.)
END
5:18 P.M. EDT
Statement by the President on Mayor Richard M. Daley
No mayor in America has loved a city more or served a community with greater passion than Rich Daley. He helped build Chicago’s image as a world class city, and leaves a legacy of progress that will be appreciated for generations to come.
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, 9/7/2010
12:16 P.M. EDT
MR. GIBBS: Yes, ma’am. Good afternoon.
Q Good afternoon. Robert, there’s a church in Gainesville, Florida, that says it’s going to go ahead and burn copies of the Koran to mark the 9/11 anniversary. Is the White House -- is there anything the White House is doing to discourage that or prevent them from going ahead with that?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think the best place to look for the views of this administration would be to look at the -- look at what General Petraeus said over the weekend. We know that that type of activity -- we know that that type of activity is being transmitted back to places like Afghanistan, when General Petraeus obviously is our lead commander. As he said, it puts our troops in harm’s way. And obviously that -- any type of activity like that would be -- that puts our troops in harm’s way would be a concern to this administration.
Q But is there any thought from anyone at the White House to reach out to the pastor of the church --
MR. GIBBS: I have not heard of any.
Q Are you ready to say what the President is going to do Saturday to mark the 9/11 anniversary? MR. GIBBS: The President will attend a memorial service at the Pentagon. I believe the Vice President will go to New York. And obviously the First Lady and former First Lady Laura Bush are in Pennsylvania. I don’t have the times on the event at the Pentagon with me.
Yes, ma’am.
Q The economic package that you’re rolling out, what is the President’s legislative strategy for that? Is this something he thinks can be passed before Election Day? And also, is he seeking passage of these measures as one big package or separate measures?
MR. GIBBS: On the second one, I don’t know the answer to one package or several packages.
Look, I think what the President -- the President will tomorrow outline a series of the proposals, many of which you all have read about and reported on over the past several days, that he believes continue our strategy to getting our economy moving again and, more importantly, for long-term economic growth.
Look, I don’t think we’re under -- we understand what season we’ve entered in Washington. We know that Congress won’t be here for a lot of time. We certainly hope that there are measures, including some of the ones that the President will outline, that Congress will consider. If they don’t do that prior to the election, the President and the economic team still believe that these represent some very important ideas in continuing along our path toward economic recovery.And as I said, most importantly, this is about -- and look, you’ll hear the President talk about this a lot tomorrow in Cleveland -- this is about long-term economic growth. This isn’t about the next 60 days or the next 90 days. This is about how do we get our economy fully back on track, how do we get the millions that want to work back to work, and how do we repair the economic damage that’s been going on not just over the past two years but over the past 10 years. We didn’t get into this overnight, as I’ve said countless times.
But I think one of the things the President will do tomorrow is will go through the notion of for 10 years we saw rules written for the special interests. We saw a blind eye turned to some of their activities. We saw wages decrease. We saw families rightly more concerned about the future of their children and whether or not the economy that they were going to raise their children in was going to be one that was capable of passing on the American Dream to each and every one of their children.
Q Are we likely to get an announcement this week on either the Consumer Agency job or CEA?
MR. GIBBS: No, I have not gotten white smoke on that except to say -- obviously nothing that I know of today. I can’t rule out that at some point that may come during the week.
Yes, sir.
Q Your former budget director, Mr. Orszag, wrote in The New York Times today that the administration and Democrats should compromise with the Republicans in Congress and extend all of the Bush tax cuts for two years and then get rid of them.
One of the reasons for that, he said, in terms of keeping the tax cuts in place, is, “Higher taxes now would crimp consumer spending, further depressing the already inadequate demand for what firms are capable of producing at full tilt.”
So your OMB director is saying that if you guys go ahead with what you’re proposing, which is allowing them to expire on the richest Americans --
MR. GIBBS: Jake, I think that -- I think Peter was mostly -- if I read the article correctly, I think Peter was mostly discussing the permanence of and the extension of those that involved the middle class.
Q But I’m specifically talking about this one -- yes, you’re agreed --
MR. GIBBS: Well, I understand, I understand what you’re reading.
Q -- on the middle-class part of it.
MR. GIBBS: I think, in all honesty, in reading the article, I think Peter had a congressional relations hat on in terms of what political price Congress might have to go through to extend different things. That’s not the viewpoint that the President holds. The President --
Q So you disagree that higher taxes, in terms of the Bush tax cuts expiring, would crimp consumer spending -- you disagree with that?
MR. GIBBS: I think that if you make $250,000 a year in this economy, you’re probably not putting off the purchase of a big-screen TV. I just -- I don’t think your consumer demand is if you make a quarter of a million dollars or $400,000 a year in this economy, I don’t think you’re putting off the purchase of a new suit or a new car because you make $400,000 a year. If you made $40,000 a year, I think you’re putting off a lot of purchases based on the fact that you don’t have it, and that impacts consumer demand.
Q So you disagree with Peter?
MR. GIBBS: Again, I don’t -- the way I read the article, Jake, is that Peter is not making that argument about the high-end tax cuts. He’s making that argument about the middle-class tax cuts, which the President certainly agrees that not extending them will certainly have an impact. The President will argue tomorrow that we should extend those middle-class tax cuts as in not doing so would most assuredly hurt our economy.
But again, I think if you’re making $250,000 or $400,000 or $600,000 or $800,000 in this economy, you’re not putting off the purchase of -- there’s not a great crush on -- or pullback in your consumer demand. This economy is not hurting people that make $800,000 a year, it’s hurting families that are making $40,000 a year.
Q And if could do a follow-up. There’s a lot of polling out today, including an ABC News/Washington Post poll that indicates more Americans feeling negatively about the President and his job performance, especially about the economy. For the first time, numerically, more Americans think that the President’s policies have hurt the economy than have helped the economy. Why -- I assume you think that they’re wrong -- why are they wrong?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I -- first and foremost, Jake, obviously, as I’ve said in here a number of times, there is and continues to be great frustration with where we are in this economy. Among those frustrated is the President of the United States. We’ve seen a recession unlike virtually anything that anybody has seen in any of their lifetimes. And it’s going to take, as the President will discuss on Wednesday, more than a two-year or less than two-year time period to get out of that hole. That’s why what he’ll talk about he believes will continue us on a road to recovery, but that recovery will certainly take some time. And I think in the end this President and this administration will be graded on what happens at the end of this road, not some place in between.I think -- I’ll be honest with you, I think the American people are not concerned about the President’s poll numbers. I think the American people are concerned about whether or not they have a job, how they’re going to pay their bills, the future of their children. I think that’s what the American people are concerned about, and that’s the task that the President will spend every day worrying about.
Q But a plurality think that what the President is doing is making matters worse.
MR. GIBBS: Again, I think by virtually any measure, our economy is in a better place than it was two years ago. There are, I think, Americans rightly concerned about our debt and our deficit, and the President understands that and has taken steps to introduce a budget that includes a freeze on non-security discretionary spending, and obviously will spend a decent amount of time in the next many months going through the medium and long term -- things that we need to do in the medium and long term to get our debt and deficit under control.
Yes, sir.
Q Robert, since you mentioned the jobs picture, I just wanted to ask one more question about Peter Orszag, because he said specifically that letting all the Bush tax cuts expire will make the job situation worse. He said, “No one wants to make an already stagnating jobs market worse over the next year or two, which is exactly what would happen if the cuts expire as planned.”
MR. GIBBS: Again, my reading of this is that --
Q You were talking about consumer spending before on jobs --
MR. GIBBS: Well, Jake was talking about consumer spending and I was responding. Again, I do not believe -- I think if you -- if you are looking at -- Ed, if you’re looking for a broad band of economists that will tell you the best way to get the economy moving is to extend those tax cuts, I don’t think you’ll find them. When the President -- when President Bush signed the 2001 tax cuts into law -- I believe it was June of 2001 -- we were in the midst of a recession. Including the month he signed those tax cuts into law, the economy shed jobs for 15 of the next 16 months. So I don’t -- if your argument is that these jobs -- or these tax cuts spur a great amount of jobs or economic growth, I don’t think you’ll find an economist or series of economists -- certainly the CBO put together a list of all the things that might be done to get the economy moving again, and I think it was either 10 out of 10 or 12 out of 12. And certainly there’s no historical data that would -- that you would point to.
Q But you also have a lot of economists saying that if you raise taxes on the rich they’re going to be less likely to hire people. Doesn’t that hurt the employment picture?
MR. GIBBS: Again, 2 to 3 percent of small businesses would be affected in this. And most of those -- let’s understand what those small businesses are. It’s a white-collar law firm that meets the technical definition of not a large number of people that are employed, okay? It’s just -- we’re not talking about the mom-and-pop hardware store. That’s just not what we’re talking about.
Q Related on the President’s economic plan, last week from that podium you basically said there’s not going to be a second stimulus plan. And then as the details start coming out and you add it up, the President is already proposing at least $350 billion in new money.
MR. GIBBS: The net cost of the expensing is not -- is 30 --
Q If you can get Congress to agree to the offsets, which is a big “if.”
MR. GIBBS: No, no, no, the net -- no, that’s -- you’ve got the R&E -- research and experimentation tax credit funded by closing corporate loopholes. The expensing tax -- the increase in the expensing and the pulling forward of that in 2011 has a net cost over 10 years of $30 billion, because what you’re doing is taking a schedule for investment and depreciation that would be written off as part of your taxes; instead of over a several-year period of time at half, you’re pulling all of that investment forward to one year. But that money then isn’t written off in each of the successive years that the 10-year budget window is part of.
So I think if you look at -- I think if you were to add up infrastructure, the R&E and this, it’s certainly less than $200 billion.
Q Okay, you add it up, $200 billion, even if it’s $200 billion, that’s big money.
MR. GIBBS: Well, it would be less -- $180 billion, $180 billion.
Q Okay, so $180 billion -- that’s a lot of money.
MR. GIBBS: Oh, I’m not saying it’s not a lot of money.
Q Okay. So why are you not calling it a stimulus plan? I mean, can’t the President be straight with the American people and say, look, the first one, we think it saved or created 3.3 million jobs, but we need a second one?
MR. GIBBS: No, no, that’s -- Ed, I listed a series of things that the President had done over the course of the last -- let’s see, what’s today -- it’s September. If you go back to last August, not a month ago but a year and a month ago, we had Cash for Clunkers. We’ve extended unemployment insurance because -- for those that were -- for unemployed regardless of the number of weeks up to 99 you were going to lose your benefits. We’ve ensured that states aren’t going to lay off teachers and firefighters when we need them most. The President has taken steps along the way, beyond the Recovery Act itself, to do things that were necessary to continue to spur our economic recovery, and that’s exactly what’s being done here.
Q So it’s not a stimulus?
MR. GIBBS: It’s not.
Yes, sir.
Q Thank you, Robert. You said a little while ago that we know what season we’ve entered in Washington. I assume you meant the political season, when not much gets done on Capitol Hill. So why, then, did the President wait until now to introduce these tax cut proposals for businesses that Republicans have been calling for for not just months but for years?
MR. GIBBS: Well, then we ought to be able to get this done pretty quickly.
Q No, because it’s the season you just said, it just doesn’t get done. MR. GIBBS: But if you supported --
Q Why would the President wait for exactly the point --
MR. GIBBS: But if you supported --
Q -- when he knows things don’t get to Congress to introduce this?
MR. GIBBS: Chip, let me just take the premise of your question. If you support -- if you, as somebody who’s running for Congress, representing the other party --
Q Robert, you know very well, you just said --
MR. GIBBS: But hold on, I’m just trying to --
Q -- this is the season when things don’t get done.
MR. GIBBS: Just help me understand the logic here. So then would you concede that the logic of it not getting done is simply because of politics?
Q Yes. Well, then you have to concede that the logic of the President introducing it now is because of politics.
MR. GIBBS: No, no -- well, first of all, I don’t know that -- I don’t know who -- maybe there are people that have proposed 100 percent expensing of -- I don’t know that that’s the case.
Q McCain did it in 2008.
Q In the campaign he did it.
MR. GIBBS: The R&E is --
Q A lot of this has been proposed by Republicans in one form or another.
MR. GIBBS: Well, I don’t know if the expansion and the --
Q Why would the President not have done it earlier this year or even last year?
MR. GIBBS: I’m sure that the permanence of R&E, we’ve been talking about that for years. I’m not sure that the expansion and the simplification of research and experimentation has been --
Q But this is all about politics and producing a law, isn’t it? You can’t possibly get it through Congress and you know that.
MR. GIBBS: But, Chip, Congress doesn’t stop thinking about what it’s going to do after November. The President is putting on the table a series of what he believes are important economic ideas. Q Why didn’t he do it a year ago or six months ago?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, if you look at the expensing provisions -- in 2008, the former administration had a 50 percent expensing provision in law. The Recovery Act contained a 50 percent expensing provision in 2009. In 2010, the small business bill that is before the Senate continues the 2009’s 50 percent expensing threshold. We’re saying that for 2011, we believe that 50 should go to 100. It builds off of an effort to get capital off the sidelines and into the economy. Some of this stuff is -- builds off of what has already been done. So the notion that these are somehow either pulled out of whole cloth for the first time I think is -- it’s not an accurate reading of any of the policy --
Q Speaking of McCain, he says that coming up with it now is just a sign that the administration is flailing around, looking for anything they can sell as an effort to get the economy moving.
MR. GIBBS: I think -- this is -- I guess in a sense, Chip, I want to separate -- look, we’re in the political season; we get that. This is -- these are not -- this is not simply something that the President is proposing to get us somehow through the next seven weeks of how we get our economy from where it is to where we want it to be. The President, as I said a minute ago, is focused on the problems that the American people have -- the economic situation that we all find ourselves in. It may or may not overlap well with a political calendar. But that’s -- again, that’s not what -- the President isn’t here to solve the nation’s problems on a political calendar. He is here to solve the nation’s problems as they exist. That’s what he is elected to do and that’s what he’ll focus his time on doing.
Q And just quickly on the Koran story, have you heard the President comment on that?
MR. GIBBS: I have not. I have not.
Q Did the President misspeak yesterday when he said the infrastructure improvements would create jobs immediately? About the same time, officials were saying on background it would be 2011 and maybe late 2011.
MR. GIBBS: Well, I think some of that obviously depends on when something would pass. If you pass something in -- if you pass something in the next few months, I think you could certainly see jobs created for the summer construction season, yes -- or I’m sorry, the spring construction season.
Yes, ma’am.
Q You just told Ed it’s not a stimulus package. Does that mean it won’t stimulate the economy?
MR. GIBBS: I think there are a series of things that would help put our economy on a stronger road to recovery. More importantly -- Savannah, you could dump whatever you wanted into the economy to get the economy to do certain things in a very short period of time. None of that, though, is going to -- let’s take the infrastructure, for instance.The infrastructure is built off of what Congress will ultimately do as part of a six-year transportation reauthorization plan, partly because we know that one out of every five people that’s unemployed used to spend time in the construction industry, back when we had fairly easy loans to buy a house, and back when millions of units of homes were being built annually. We now know that because of foreclosure, because of credit, because of the economy, there’s a vast surplus in those homes.Q These measures are designed to stimulate the economy, correct?
MR. GIBBS: They are designed to continue our economic recovery.
Q You’ve announced pay-fors for some of these proposals, notably the ones that would be permanent, but not all of them. And I wonder how that runs up against your discretionary spending freeze; how it’s consistent with your policy not to spend unless it’s paid for.
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, obviously on, I think, on the call that Wendell was talking about, there was a discussion about closing tax cuts for oil and gas companies to pay for an increased amount of infrastructure spending, which would fall -- which would certainly fall in the non-security discretionary spending.Q Just wondering how you decide, because some things you did identify pay-fors. Others you don’t --
MR. GIBBS: Again, I think some things are designed to -- some things are designed as part of, as you said, a bucket of otherwise discretionary spending, and some are designed to -- for tax incentives that will take capital and money off the sidelines and put it into the economy.
Q I guess, in other words, you’re prepared to deficit-spend right now, notwithstanding this spending freeze.
MR. GIBBS: Well, there are certainly proposals in here that would do that, yes.
Q Okay, and a quick one. On our poll, 58 percent believe that if the Republicans get control they will have different ideas than the Bush administration; 35 percent believe they’ll fall back on Bush policies. It stands out because it seems like voters are directly rejecting the very argument that the President has been making forcefully for some months --
MR. GIBBS: They seem to be rejecting the very argument that the Republicans’ head -- both of the congressional committees made on NBC as well. I think Pete Sessions said very verbatim that “We want to return to those policies.” Q That may be the case, but it seems voters don’t know that.
MR. GIBBS: We will spend the next couple of months sharpening that argument, if need be, to ensure that people do.
Laura.
Q In the Peter Orszag piece, he also, besides making an economic argument, made a political argument about extending the tax cuts for the upper-income bracket by saying that that may be the cost of a deal with Republicans. And he says that would be a tradeoff worth making. Do you think that would be a tradeoff worth making?
MR. GIBBS: The President’s viewpoint is that we cannot afford to extend the tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year. Let’s understand what that means. For most of these -- most of the spending for extending those tax cuts comes from -- almost all of it, the bulk of it comes from incomes that surpass a million dollars. It’s roughly, for a millionaire, that’s a $100,000 tax cut. I don’t think the President believes that we are a $100,000 tax cut from a millionaire away from an economy that works for families that are making $40,000 a year.
Q So is he ruling out signing legislation that would extend the tax cuts for that group?
MR. GIBBS: Again, our viewpoint on this is that we should and must pass legislation that extends the tax cuts for middle-class families. But we cannot afford in this environment to -- in our budgetary and fiscal environment -- to extend the tax cuts for those that make more than $250,000 a year.
Q So, therefore, you’re ruling out -- are you ruling out that legislation?
MR. GIBBS: I’m simply stating what our position is.
Q Why are you so dead set against using the term “stimulus,” especially for the public works component of this series of proposals? It very much resembles things that were in the Recovery Act.
MR. GIBBS: Some of them build off of what was in the Recovery Act. I do not think -- as I said last week, I do not think that this is anywhere near the level of what was enacted at the beginning of the administration.
Q And also, Robert, you said a few minutes ago that the President wants to put on the table this series of economic ideas. How do you see the prospects for it getting off the table anytime soon?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think if you go back and look at, and as has been pointed out here, these seem to -- some of these ideas have some support. Look, at some point we’re going to have to stop playing politics and start getting about fixing the economy because that’s what’s right for the American people. At some point, the other party will begin to do that. And we have a series of proposals for them to look at.
Q You talk about Peter’s -- putting on a congressional relations hat. In terms of White House relations, did he give you guys a heads up at all that he was going to be writing on this subject?
MR. GIBBS: We certainly didn’t see Peter’s column before it appeared today. I mean, obviously I think it was reported late last week that he was going to start writing a column, but --
Q Right, but the substance, the grist of -- yes --
MR. GIBBS: Nobody that I’m aware of saw the column before.
Q And just -- sorry to belabor this point, but you just said the President is very -- deeply, deeply troubled. (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: Yes, exactly. I can see the pain -- the smirk on your faces is -- seems to underscore the tremendous emotional pain with which I’m now putting you through, huh?
Q I’m glad we’re having this moment.
MR. GIBBS: I’m glad we could do this together.
Q Do you want us to leave? (Laughter.)
Q Extending -- extending -- you were just were very clear, the President does not believe extending -- it’s not affordable to extend tax cuts for -- but I believe Orszag’s point was it’s not affordable to extend them for the middle class. That’s his point. And if we can get your comments on that.
MR. GIBBS: The President disagrees with that. Q Can you talk about --
MR. GIBBS: See -- you didn’t seem very pained at all. That was --
Q The President disagrees with his former OMB director that extending the middle-class tax cuts are not something that we can afford?
MR. GIBBS: Yes.
Q Were these arguments he made when he was budget director?
MR. GIBBS: I will say this. I obviously was not in every meeting that Peter was in. I did not -- I did not hear him make this argument. He may have made this argument in some meetings. I certainly don’t recall it. But that’s not to say that he didn’t.
Ari.
Q Can you talk about what the President discussed this morning with Secretary Clinton and the NATO Secretary General?
MR. GIBBS: I think -- if I’m not mistaken, the Clinton meeting is part of their regular weekly meetings. I don’t have a readout on that, but we will have a readout on the NATO Secretary General a little bit later on. My guess is that most of that had to do with Afghanistan.
Q And also, to what extent is tomorrow’s speech a direct response to Congressman Boehner’s speech on the economy in Ohio a couple of weeks ago?
MR. GIBBS: Well, it’s certainly -- it’s in the same city and I think the President will use that opportunity to contrast a vision of returning to a decade of policy and value decisions that got us into this mess, which if you look back at what Congressman Boehner said in that speech, he seemed to lay out a strong predicate for the very same type of decisions that had been made over the past 10 years that got us into this mess. I anticipate the President will spend a decent amount of time discussing it.
Q And the venue, a community college versus the City Club?
MR. GIBBS: That I -- look, I think it’s in this case Cleveland and Cleveland.
Q Did you choose Cleveland because Boehner had given his speech there?
MR. GIBBS: Yes. (Laughter.) I didn’t want to put you through the same emotional racking that I just put Hans through. So I just figured “yes” was probably an easier answer.
Yes, sir.
Q Robert, can I ask you about the Oval Office rug and the quotation that you folks attributed to Martin Luther King?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t think -- well, just to be fair, I don’t -- I think --
Q He said it.
MR. GIBBS: I was going to say. Let’s -- well, I think we should stipulate for history that it was not us that thought he said it. It was many people that believed, I think rightly so, that he said that.
Q He did say it on more than one occasion.
MR. GIBBS: Yes.
Q It’s been pointed out that Dr. King himself often pointed to the fact that these were the words of Dr. Theodore Parker, an abolitionist. Is Parker -- was the President aware of these antecedents?
MR. GIBBS: I have not -- Mark, I have -- we have not covered the rug today in our discussions. I would say this. I read some of the back-and-forth on this. I read the column in the Post, which we certainly all learn a lot of important history on.
Again, I’d point out that I think what King said and what Parker said are not the same thing. What’s on the rug is what Dr. King had said.
Q Does the President or does the White House not believe that Parker should get some credit for --
MR. GIBBS: Well, nobody gets credit on the rug. I mean, there’s -- I mean, it’s just the quotes. I don’t -- and Mark, I have to say, if I see you in there writing on the rug, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. (Laughter.) I’m just -- I want to get that sort of out before --
Q The names aren’t -- I haven’t seen the rug, but the names aren’t on --
MR. GIBBS: No, I think it’s just around the edges.
Yes, ma’am.
Q Robert, today Charlie Cook joins other analysts in forecasting that estimated the Republicans could gain over 40 seats and very possibly substantially more. Do you see that’s --
MR. GIBBS: That certainly hedges your bets. (Laughter.) Q Well, 40, do you think that’s --
MR. GIBBS: Forty or more.
Q Do you see a political landscape right now where the Republicans --
MR. GIBBS: Look, I’m not going to take business away from Charlie or Stu or others by making a lot of predictions.
Q Do you think -- you don’t think that isn’t going to happen?
MR. GIBBS: I think I said a few weeks ago that I thought Democrats would retain the House and the Senate. I still believe that.
Q Oh, yesterday, when the President ad-libbed that his critics talk about him like a dog, what was he -- what did he mean?
MR. GIBBS: I have not talked to him about that, but I assume that if you look at some of what is said about the President and matched them up against the facts, on occasion dogs get a better representation.
Q Who was the “they” that he was referring to?
MR. GIBBS: I think there’s probably -- we could probably find you several hundred thousand quotes.
Q Robert, I was looking forward to the U.N. General Assembly meeting in a couple of weeks, and I was refreshing my memory on what the President said last year. One of the things he said to the Assembly is that he was -- one of his goals was to reduce the skepticism and distrust of the U.S. abroad. Have you -- what do you think? Have you talked about this with him lately? Does he think that that is --
MR. GIBBS: I have not. I can certainly see if some of the national security folks have. Look, I think that -- I think the -- if you look at where the views of those across the world have of this country now, and how they thought of it when the President came into office, I think we have seen an improvement in world opinion.
But I think what’s important is that the removal of skepticism and distrust in world opinion is not a means or an ends to itself, it’s -- I’m sorry, it’s not an end, it’s a means. And that is we -- it helps our ability to bring along those on a world stage to do things that are important to increase the security of people throughout the world.
I think if you -- look, this certainly -- this action predates what the President said last September, but starting with North Korean sanctions, extending to sanctions on Iran. I think there are a whole host of things -- an additional START treaty pending before the Senate to cut the threat of nuclear weapons in this age -- all are a result of better relationships that we have with other countries.
Q And can you -- looking forward to the meeting coming up, is there any particular focus that you can highlight, or something the President is asking for?
MR. GIBBS: You know, I have not spent a lot of time on what the program looks like yet, but as we get closer, we’ll get a chance to.
Glenn.
Q Robert, the President was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had a lot of economic struggle when he was a kid. Why doesn’t he talk about that more when he’s out?
MR. GIBBS: Well, I think he talked a little bit about it yesterday and I think he’ll talk about it a little bit more on Wednesday. It obviously was part of what he’s talked about for many years. I have not looked back at all his speeches about whether or not that’s been a lot of what he talked about or how much that has changed.
I think a lot of his speeches have tended to walk people through their -- likely what they’re experiencing in their lives, vice what has happened in his.
Q But that’s an interesting distinction because Presidents who have been pretty successful at making these arguments before -- looking at President Clinton, even President -- second President Bush, to some degree, have certainly talked about their personal experience. It’s been a way of sort of making those points. Do you think he needs to do a good deal more of that?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, as I said, I think you’ll hear some of that tomorrow. I think you heard some of it yesterday. I think it’s a good part of what -- the type of decisions and the type of values that lead to the decisions that he makes as part of our economic recovery. So I do anticipate you’ll hear more of it.
April.
Q Robert, following up on Jake -- on his question about Orszag, was Peter Orszag someone here who was known as a dissenting voice, somewhat -- to push back on proposals periodically? Or was he someone who just pretty much followed through on giving the President ideas or implementing things that the President wanted? What was he, or was he a mixture of both?
MR. GIBBS: April, I wouldn’t want to generalize about anybody here. I mean, look, I think probably like a number of people that work here -- and if you walked into any meeting, people have opinions that may or may not vary with those that are in the room.
This is a longer way of saying I think it would be hard to put just anybody in a box, for two years of service, in one neat box so quickly.
Q So would you at least say that he did maybe push back on some economic issues, maybe give other ideas a twist or turns? Because, I mean, he made a persuasive argument in this story that he wrote about a nation, two deficits and how to come out of that.
So, I mean, you were saying about Congress -- he was trying to make the point about Congress, but he made a persuasive argument bringing facts to what he said. So did he bring something to the table -- people talking about that morning, that he brought that to the table, to the President --
MR. GIBBS: Maybe I’m just not sort of hearing your question. Look, I think Peter has, again, depending on the issue, depending on -- has had varying opinions on what to do when and how best to execute it. And I think that’s true for a whole host of different policies.
Q All right, and also on the issue of Cleveland. There are some in Cleveland, in actually the city proper of Cleveland, who are concerned, saying that Cleveland is a prime example of a city who can benefit from any kind of stimulus package. And the President continues to go on the outskirts of Cleveland. They’re saying that the city has a 20 percent unemployment rate, 17,000 vacant homes. And Wednesday, the President goes to a place called Parma on the outskirts. And before he’s gone to -- if I’m getting it right, Stoneysville or something like that before, on the outskirts of Cleveland. And why not go into Cleveland proper?
MR. GIBBS: You know, April, I don’t know that the -- look, I just don’t -- I don’t think that -- what you talk about in Parma doesn’t also mean -- look -- I’m trying to figure out the best way to say this. Look, I think if -- what the President is talking about is companies that are in Cleveland proper or around Cleveland, these tax cuts would help them -- infrastructure spending, building new roads and bridges and runways is going to help -- it’s going to help everybody.
This isn’t a suburban economic speech or an urban economic speech, because I just don’t think that the President and the team have -- I don’t think they’ve dissected this quite down to that level in terms of the types of things that we need and the types of problems that we face.
Q Robert, just two questions. Two Washington Post editorials were headlined, “The Scourge of Rape In Prisons” and “A Tolerance of Rape,” and they ask why has the Justice Department dithered for a year? And could you tell us, because the President does care about this, doesn’t he?
MR. GIBBS: I didn’t necessarily read what you’re referring to, Lester.
Q The two editorials in The Washington Post and I have them right here.
MR. GIBBS: Well, you should -- if they reference the Department of Justice, I think that’s probably a pretty good place to start.
Q And then, you don’t believe that any of us would talk about you like a dog, do you?
MR. GIBBS: Can I get back to you on that, Lester? (Laughter.) And I’m simply -- I’m going through those same sort of tortured soul that I can only imagine Hans was going through in asking his questions.
Stephen.
Q BP is going to release its report tomorrow into the causes of the oil spill. Has the White House had an advance look at this? And secondly, given the past relationship between the administration and the company, what level of confidence do you have that this is going to produce a genuine finding into what caused the accident?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I’ll say this. I know of no one that has seen it here. I’ve certainly seen emails alluding to the notion that -- and clips alluding to the notion that this is -- this will be released. Obviously I think we’d want a chance to look at the report. I think an important partner of that investigation, Stephen, ultimately is going to get -- is going to be a look at the blowout preventer itself, which only recently, in the last few days, has been brought to the surface, and will give us a chance to see whether was this a design flaw, was this something that was just a problem that this blowout preventer had to deal with, and a whole host of things.
So we’ll certainly look through the report. Obviously -- look through the report and may have some comment about it. But I do not know of anybody who has seen an advance copy.
Yes, sir.
Q Thank you, Robert. About Secretary General Rasmussen’s visit, is the President worried with NATO and actually diminishing role in Afghanistan, this becoming a heavier burden on U.S. soldiers on the ground there? And secondly, has General Petraeus expressed or requested more NATO involvement in Afghanistan?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know about the second part. Look, as part of what the President announced last December at West Point, NATO contributed an increase in forces on the ground in Afghanistan, a contribution that I know commanders at the time at ISAF believed would play a crucial role in our overall strategy. Obviously this is not -- the problems that we face with -- in Afghanistan and in Pakistan dealing with al Qaeda and its extremist allies, their potential return, an environment that allows, if they were to return, unfettered planning for an additional terrorist attack -- that’s not something that’s simply in the interest of the United States in preventing. It’s of international concern. And that’s why there is an international security assistance force there. And we’re certainly -- I know that the commanders -- our commanders are thankful for that involvement.
Q But does the President feel that the NATO leaders are not conscious enough of the general danger for themselves of a --
MR. GIBBS: How so?
Q -- of a terrorist --
MR. GIBBS: Well, no, look, I think if you look at -- if you -- look, I certainly wouldn’t say that. I think if you look at what has happened over the past couple years in places -- past few years, not just a couple, but past few years in places like England and Spain, I don’t think that -- I don’t think you could make a very eloquent point that there aren’t those in the NATO alliance that haven’t also experienced the type of terrorism -- certainly, maybe not quite on the scale of 9/11, but certainly they’ve hardly been immune to it.
Sam.
Q Robert, yes, there’s been growing alarm in the judicial community about the vacancies at some of these federal courts. Forty-seven vacancies have been labeled “emergencies” by the judiciary because of heavy caseloads. You’ve talked a lot from the lectern about GOP obstructionism on this front, but what is the White House going to do differently, either with the remaining time in the recess, perhaps, or afterwards to actually get people appointed --
MR. GIBBS: Well, Sam, I don’t have the statistics in front of me. I think obviously we have sent up a comparable number of judicial appointments up to the Senate. As you mentioned and as I have mentioned on many occasions, we have seen a lack of any sort of cooperation in moving a number of these nominees along.
And look, every President and Congress of differing parties is going to have some fights about this, but there are -- there continue to be an absurd number of judges that have passed -- and again, I don’t have the stats in front of me, but we’ll get them -- that have passed unanimously out of committee that need to be considered quickly by Congress. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense if there’s -- that we can’t move a judicial nominee through the process if they have received a unanimous endorsement from the committee that is most tasked with looking at these judicial appointments.
Q We just had this recess, though, and there hasn’t been a recess appointment, as far as I’m concerned -- or as far as I know, of any of these nominees. I’m wondering if we should expect something in the week ahead, or why haven’t you taken advantage of the recess appointment?
MR. GIBBS: Look, I don’t have any -- I can’t look into my crystal ball to tell you what’s ahead.
Q Robert, can I ask a question on economic strategy?
MR. GIBBS: Go ahead.
Q Someone is -- a Brookings Institution senior fellow William Gale about a month ago said that whether you can afford it or not, the only politically feasible thing to do is to have at least a one- or two-year extension of 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Now, can you afford not to do that if you hope to address long-term business uncertainty -- which I believe is what you’re trying to do with your --
MR. GIBBS: Well, some things are designed to address, as I said earlier, money that may be on the sidelines that isn’t being used for investment, for research, or for expansion. But, look, again, I don’t think that anybody at the Brookings Institute would tell you, from an economic standpoint, that the best way to address business uncertainty is by extending a tax cut for somebody that makes a million dollars a year. Q He didn’t say that. He said if you want to get anything through, politically feasibly, the only way politically feasibly getting anything through would be to do it in order to get what you want to get through, which is business uncertainty and addressing --
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, maybe I agree some with what -- I said I thought that’s what -- the argument that Peter was actually trying to make in the newspaper today was, again, a political and a congressional relations argument, not an economic argument.
Q I’m sorry, but at his swan song, Orszag did say you can’t afford a 10-year extension of all the 2001, 2003 tax cuts, because that would cost $700 billion.
MR. GIBBS: That $700 billion is a 10-year extension of the upper-end tax cuts, not the 2001, 2003 middle-class tax cuts.
Thank you guys.
END 1:04 P.M. EDT
Readout of the President's Call with Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom
The President and Prime Minister Cameron spoke today to continue their frequent consultations on global issues. The President reiterated his congratulations to the Prime Minister and Mrs. Cameron on the birth of their daughter, Florence Rose Endellion, and wished the Prime Minister and his family well. The two leaders discussed Afghanistan, counterterrorism cooperation, Middle East peace, and Pakistan flood relief efforts.
Remarks by the President on the Occasion of Rosh Hashanah
As Jews in America and around the world celebrate the first of the High Holy Days I want to extend my warmest wishes for the New Year. L’shana Tova Tikatevu – may you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.
Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the spiritual calendar and the birth of the world. It serves as a reminder of the special relationship between God and his children, now and always. And it calls us to look within ourselves – to repent for our sins; recommit ourselves to prayer; and remember the blessings that come from helping those in need.
Today, those lessons ring as true as they did thousands of years ago. And as we begin this New Year, it is more important than ever to believe in the power of humility and compassion to deepen our faith and repair our world.
At a time when too many of our friends and neighbors are struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads, it is up to us to do what we can to help those less fortunate.
At a time when prejudice and oppression still exist in the shadows of our society, it is up to us to stand as a beacon of freedom and tolerance and embrace the diversity that has always made us stronger as a people.
And at a time when Israelis and Palestinians have returned to direct dialogue, it is up to us to encourage and support those who are willing to move beyond their differences and work towards security and peace in the Holy Land. Progress will not come easy, it will not come quick. But today we had an opportunity to move forward, toward the goal we share—two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
The scripture teaches us that there is “a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” In this season of repentance and renewal, let us commit ourselves to a more hopeful future.
Michelle and I wish all who celebrate Rosh Hashanah a sweet year full of health and prosperity.
Statement by President Obama on the Passing of Jefferson Thomas
Michelle and I are saddened by the passing of Jefferson Thomas, who as one of the "Little Rock Nine," took a stand against segregation and helped open the eyes of our nation to the struggle for civil rights. Mr. Thomas was just a teenager when he became one of the first African-American students to enroll in Little Rock Central High School. Yet even at such a young age, he had the courage to risk his own safety, to defy a governor and a mob, and to walk proudly into that school even though it would have been far easier to give up and turn back. And through this simple act of pursuing an equal education, he and his fellow members of the Little Rock Nine helped open the doors of opportunity for their generation and for those that followed. The searing images of soldiers guarding students from those days will forever serve as a testament to the progress we've made, the barriers that previous generations have torn down, and the power of ordinary men and women to help us build a more perfect union. Our nation owes Mr. Thomas a debt of gratitude for the stand he took half a century ago, and the leadership he showed in the decades since. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
Remarks by the President at Laborfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2:11 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Thank you. It is good to be back in Milwaukee. It is good to be -- I’m almost home. (Applause.) I just hop on the 94 and I’m home. (Applause.) Take it all the way to the South Side.
It is good -- it is good to be here on such a beautiful day. Happy Labor Day, everybody. (Applause.) I want to say thank you to the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and all of my brothers and sisters in the AFL-CIO for inviting me to spend this day with you -- (applause) -- a day that belongs to the working men and women of America.
I want to acknowledge your outstanding national president, a man who knows that a strong economy needs a strong labor movement: Rich Trumka. (Applause.) Thank you to the president of Wisconsin AFL-CIO Dave Newby. (Applause.) Our host, your area Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Sheila Cochran. I hear it’s Sheila’s birthday tomorrow. Where is she? (Applause.) Happy birthday, Sheila. (Applause.) I’m proud to be here with our Secretary of Labor, a daughter of union members, Hilda Solis. (Applause.) And our Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is in the house. (Applause.) And I want everybody to give it up for people who are at the forefront of every fight for Wisconsin’s working men and women -- Senator Herb Kohl; Congresswoman Gwen Moore. (Applause.) Your outstanding mayor and I believe soon to be outstanding governor Tom Barrett is in the house. (Applause.) And I know -- I know your other great senator, Russ Feingold, was here earlier standing with you and your families just like he always has. Now he’s in his hometown of Janesville to participate in their Labor Day parade.
So it is good to be back. Now, of course, this isn’t my first time at Laborfest. Some of you remember I stood right here with you two years ago when I was still a candidate for this office. (Applause.) And during that campaign, we talked about how, for years, the values of hard work and responsibility that had built this country had been given short shrift, and how it was slowly hollowing out our middle class. Listen, everybody who has a chair, go ahead and sit down, because everybody’s all hollering. (Applause.) Just relax, I’m going to be talking for a while now. (Applause.) Everybody take -- (applause) -- got a lot of hardworking people here, you deserve to sit down for a day. (Applause.) You’ve been on your feet all year working hard.
But two years ago, we talked about some on Wall Street who were taking reckless risks and cutting corners to turn huge profits while working Americans were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat. We talked about how the decks all too often were stacked in favor of special interests and against the interests of working Americans.
And what we knew, even then, was that these years would be some of the most difficult in our history. And then, two weeks later -- two weeks after I spoke here -- the bottom fell out of the economy. And middle-class families suddenly found themselves swept up in the worst recession of our lifetimes.
So the problems facing working families, they’re nothing new. But they are more serious than ever. And that makes our cause more urgent than ever. For generations, it was the great American working class, the great American middle class that made our economy the envy of the world. It’s got to be that way again. (Applause.)
Milwaukee, it was folks like you that built this city. It was folks like you that built this state. It was folks like you who forged that middle class all across the nation.
It was working men and women who made the 20th century the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. (Applause.) The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label. (Applause.)
And it was that greatest generation that built America into the greatest force of prosperity and opportunity and freedom that the world has ever known -- Americans like my grandfather, who went off to war just boys, then returned home as men, and then they traded in one uniform and set of responsibilities for another. And Americans like my grandmother, who rolled up her sleeves and worked in a factory on the home front. And when the war was over, they studied under the GI Bill, and they bought a home under the FHA, and they raised families supported by good jobs that paid good wages with good benefits.
It was through my grandparents’ experience that I was brought up to believe that anything is possible in America. (Applause.) But, Milwaukee, they also knew the feeling when opportunity is pulled out from under you. They grew up during the Depression, so they’d tell me about seeing their fathers or their uncles losing jobs; how it wasn’t just the loss of a paycheck that hurt so bad. It was the blow to their dignity, their sense of self-worth. I’ll bet a lot of us have seen people who’ve been changed after a long bout of unemployment. It can wear you down, even if you’ve got a strong spirit. If you’re out of work for a long time, it can wear you down.
So my grandparents taught me early on that a job is about more than just a paycheck. A paycheck is important. But a job is about waking up every day with a sense of purpose, and going to bed each night feeling you’ve handled your responsibilities. (Applause.) It’s about meeting your responsibilities to yourself and to your family and to your community. And I carried that lesson with me all those years ago when I got my start fighting for men and women on the South Side of Chicago after their local steel plant shut down. And I carried that lesson with me through my time as a state senator and a U.S. senator, and I carry that lesson with me today. (Applause.)
And I know -- I know that there are folks right here in this audience, folks right here in Milwaukee and all across America, who are going through these kinds of struggles. Eight million Americans lost their jobs in this recession. And even though we’ve had eight straight months of private sector job growth, the new jobs haven’t been coming fast enough. Now, here’s the honest truth, the plain truth. There’s no silver bullet. There’s no quick fix to these problems. I knew when I was running for office, and I certainly knew by the time I was sworn in, I knew it would take time to reverse the damage of a decade worth of policies that saw too few people being able to climb into the middle class, too many people falling behind. (Applause.)
We all knew this. We all knew that it would take more time than any of us want to dig ourselves out of this hole created by this economic crisis. But on this Labor Day, there are two things I want you to know. Number one: I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream, not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations. That I can guarantee you. (Applause.)
Number two -- I believe this with every fiber of my being: America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class, and the chance for everybody, no matter how humble their beginnings, to join that middle class -- (applause) -- a middle class built on the idea that if you work hard, if you live up to your responsibilities, then you can get ahead; that you can enjoy some basic guarantees in life. A good job that pays a good wage. Health care that will be there when you get sick. (Applause.) A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. (Applause.) An education that will give your children a better life than we had. (Applause.) These are simple ideas. These are American ideas. These are union ideas. That’s what we’re fighting for. (Applause.)
I was thinking about this last week. I was thinking about this last week on the day I announced the end of our combat mission in Iraq. (Applause.) And I spent some time, as I often do, with our soldiers and our veterans. And this new generation of troops coming home from Iraq, they’ve earned their place alongside the greatest generation. (Applause.) Just like that greatest generation, they’ve got the skills, they’ve got the training, they’ve got the drive to move America’s economy forward once more. We’ve been investing in new care and new opportunities and a new commitment to our veterans, because we’ve got to serve them just the way they served us. (Applause.)
But, Milwaukee, they’re coming home to an economy hit by a recession deeper than anything we’ve seen since the 1930s. So the question is, how do we create the same kinds of middle-class opportunities for this generation as my grandparents’ generation came home to? How do we build our economy on that same strong, stable foundation for growth?
Now, anybody who thinks that we can move this economy forward with just a few folks at the top doing well, hoping that it’s going to trickle down to working people who are running faster and faster just to keep up, you’ll never see it. (Applause.) If that’s what you’re waiting for, you should stop waiting, because it’s never happened in our history. That’s not how America was built. It wasn’t built with a bunch of folks at the top doing well and everybody else scrambling. We didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world just by rewarding greed and recklessness. We didn’t come this far by letting the special interests run wild. We didn’t do it just by gambling and chasing paper profits on Wall Street. We built this country by making things, by producing goods we could sell. We did it with sweat and effort and innovation. (Applause.) We did it on the assembly line and at the construction site. (Applause.)
We did it by investing in the people who built this country from the ground up –- the workers, middle-class families, small business owners. We out-worked folks and we out-educated folks and we out-competed everybody else. That’s how we built America. (Applause.)
And, Milwaukee, that’s what we’re going to do again. That’s been at the heart what we’ve been doing over these last 20 months: building our economy on a new foundation so that our middle class doesn’t just survive this crisis -– I want it to thrive. I want it to be stronger than it was before.
And over the last two years, that’s meant taking on some powerful interests -- some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time. And they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. (Applause.) That’s not in my prepared remarks, it’s just -- but it’s true.
You know, that’s why we passed financial reform to provide new accountability and tough oversight of Wall Street; stopping credit card companies from gouging you with hidden fees and unfair rate hikes. (Applause.) Ending taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street once and for all. They’re not happy with it, but it was the right thing to do. (Applause.)
That’s why we eliminated tens of billions of dollars in wasteful taxpayer subsidies, handouts to the big banks that were providing student loans. We took that money, tens of billions of dollars, and we’re going to go to make sure that your kids and your grandkids can get student loans and grants at a cheap rate and afford a college education. (Applause.) They’re not happy with it, but it was the right thing to do. (Applause.)
Yes, we’re using those savings to put a college education within reach for working families.
That’s why we passed health insurance reform to make coverage affordable. (Applause.) Reform that ends the indignity of insurance companies jacking up your premiums at will, denying you coverage just because you get sick; reform that gives you control, gives you the ability if your child is sick to be able to get an affordable insurance plan, making sure they can’t drop it.
That’s why we’re making it easier for workers to save for retirement, with new ways of saving your tax refunds, a simpler system for enrolling in plans like 401(k)s, and fighting to strengthen Social Security for the future. (Applause.) And if everybody is still talking about privatizing Social Security, they need to be clear: It will not happen on my watch. Not when I’m President of the United States of America. (Applause.)
That’s why -- we’ve given tax cuts -- except we give them to folks who need them. (Applause.) We’ve given them to small business owners. We’ve given them to clean energy companies. We’ve cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, just like I promised you during the campaign. You all got a tax cut. (Applause.)
And instead of giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas, we’re cutting taxes to companies that are putting our people to work right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)
See, we want to invest in growth industries like clean energy and manufacturing. You’ve got leaders here in Wisconsin -- Tom Barrett, Jim Doyle -- they’ve been fighting to bring those jobs to Milwaukee, fighting to bring those jobs here to Wisconsin. I don’t want to see solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars made in China. I want them made right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)
I don’t want to buy stuff from someplace else. I want to grow our exports so that we’re selling to someplace else -- products that say “Made in the U.S.A.” (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right. There are no better workers than American workers. (Applause.) I’ll put my money on you any day of the week. And when the naysayers said, well, you can’t save the auto industry, just go ahead and let hundreds of thousands of jobs vanish, we said we’re going to stand by those workers. If the management is willing to make tough choices, if everybody is willing to come together, I’m confident that the American auto industry can compete once again -– and today, that industry is on the way back. They said no, we said yes to the American worker. They’re coming back. (Applause.)
Now, let me tell you, another thing we’ve done is to make long-overdue investments in upgrading our outdated, our inefficient national infrastructure. We’re talking roads. We’re talking bridges. We’re talking dams, levees. But we’re also talking a smart electric grid that can bring clean energy to new areas. We’re talking about broadband Internet so that everybody is plugged in. We’re talking about high-speed rail lines required to compete in a 21st century economy. (Applause.) I want to get down from Milwaukee down to Chicago quick. (Applause.) Avoid a traffic jam.
We’re talking investments in tomorrow that are creating hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs right now.
Because of these investments, and the tens of thousands of projects they spurred all across the country, the battered construction sector actually grew last month for the first time in a very long time. (Applause.)
But, you know, the folks here in the trades know what I’m talking about -- nearly one in five construction workers are unemployed. One in five. Nobody has been hit harder than construction workers. And a lot of those folks, they had lost their jobs in manufacturing and went into construction; now they’ve lost their jobs again.
It doesn’t do anybody any good when so many hardworking Americans have been idled for months, even years, at a time when there is so much of America that needs rebuilding.
So, that’s why, Milwaukee, today, I am announcing a new plan for rebuilding and modernizing America’s roads and rails and runways for the long term. (Applause.) I want America to have the best infrastructure in the world. We used to have the best infrastructure in the world. We can have it again. We are going to make it happen. (Applause.)
Over the next six years, over the next six years, we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads -– that’s enough to circle the world six times. That’s a lot of road. We’re going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways –- enough to stretch coast to coast. We’re going to restore 150 miles of runways. And we’re going to advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travelers. (Applause.) I think everybody can agree on that. Anybody want more delays in airports?
AUDIENCE: No!
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t think so. That’s not a Republican or a Democratic idea. We all want to get to where we need to go. I mean, I’ve got Air Force One now, it’s nice. (Laughter.) But I still remember what it was like.
This is a plan that will be fully paid for. It will not add to the deficit over time -– we’re going to work with Congress to see to that. We want to set up an infrastructure bank to leverage federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments. We’re going to continue our strategy to build a national high-speed rail network that reduces congestion and travel times and reduces harmful emissions. We want to cut waste and bureaucracy and consolidate and collapse more than 100 different programs that too often duplicate each other. So we want to change the way Washington spends your tax dollars. We want to reform a haphazard, patchwork way of doing business. We want to focus on less wasteful approaches than we’ve got right now. We want competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck.
But the bottom line is this, Milwaukee -- this will not only create jobs immediately, it’s also going to make our economy hum over the long haul. It’s a plan that history tells us can and should attract bipartisan support. It’s a plan that says even in the aftermath of the worst recession in our lifetimes, America can still shape our own destiny. We can still move this country forward. We can still leave our children something better. We can still leave them something that lasts. (Applause.)
So these are the things we’ve been working for. These are some of the victories you guys have helped us achieve. And we’re not finished. We’ve got a lot more progress to make. And I’m confident we will.
But there are some folks in Washington who see things differently. (Boos.) You know what I’m talking about. (Applause.) When it comes to just about everything we’ve done to strengthen our middle class, to rebuild our economy, almost every Republican in Congress says no. (Boos.) Even on things we usually agree on, they say no. If I said the sky was blue, they say no. (Laughter and applause.) If I said fish live in the sea, they’d say no. (Laughter.) They just think it’s better to score political points before an election than to solve problems. So they said no to help for small businesses, even when the small businesses said we desperately need this. This used to be their key constituency, they said. They said no. No to middle-class tax cuts. They say they’re for tax cuts; I say, okay, let’s give tax cuts to the middle class. No. (Laughter.) No to clean energy jobs. No to making college more affordable. No to reforming Wall Street. They’re saying right now, no to cutting more taxes for small business owners and helping them get financing.
You know, I heard -- somebody out here was yelling “Yes we can.” Remember that was our slogan? Their slogan is “No we can’t.” (Applause.) No, no, no, no.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
THE PRESIDENT: I mean, I personally think “Yes we can” is more inspiring than “No we can’t.” (Applause.) To steal a line from our old friend Ted Kennedy: What is it about working men and women that they find so offensive? (Laughter.)
When we passed a bill earlier this summer to help states save jobs -- the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and nurses and police officers and firefighters that were about to be laid off, they said no. (Applause.) And the Republican who thinks he’s going to take over as Speaker -- (boos) -- I’m just saying that’s his opinion -- (laughter) -- he’s entitled to his opinion. But when he was asked about this, he dismissed those jobs as “government jobs” that weren’t worth saving. (Boos.) That’s what he said, I’m quoting -- “government jobs.”
Now, think about this. These are the people who teach our children. These are the people who keep our streets safe. These are the people who put their lives on the line, who rush into a burning building. Government jobs? I don’t know about you, but I think those jobs are worth saving. (Applause.) I think those jobs are worth saving. (Applause.)
By the way, this bill that we passed to save all those jobs, we made sure that bill wouldn’t add to the deficit. You know how we paid for it? By closing one of these ridiculous tax loopholes that actually rewarded corporations for shipping jobs and profits overseas. (Applause.)
I mean, this -- this was one of those loopholes that allowed companies to write off taxes they pay to foreign governments –- even though they weren’t paying taxes here in the United States. So middle-class families were footing tax breaks for companies creating jobs somewhere else. I mean, even a lot of America’s biggest corporations agreed that this loophole didn’t make sense, agreed that it needed to be closed, agreed that it wasn’t fair -– but the man who thinks he’s going to be Speaker, he wants to reopen this loophole. (Boos.)
Look, the bottom line is this: These guys, they just don’t want to give up on that economic philosophy that they have been peddling for most of the last decade. You know that philosophy -- you cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; you cut all the rules and regulations for special interests; and then you just cut working folks loose -- you cut them loose to fend for themselves.
You remember they called it the ownership society, but what it really boiled down to was, if you couldn’t find a job, you couldn’t afford college, you were born poor, your insurance company dropped you even though your kid was sick, that you were on your own.
Well, you know what, that philosophy didn’t work out so well for middle-class families all across America. It didn’t work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I mean, think about it, we have tried what they’re peddling. We did it for 10 years. We ended up with the worst economy since the 1930s and record deficits to boot. (Applause.) It’s not like we haven’t tried what they’re trying to sell us.
Now, I’m bringing this up not because I’m trying to re-litigate the past; I’m bringing it up because I don’t want to re-live the past. (Applause.)
It’d be one thing, Milwaukee, if Republicans in Washington had some new ideas, if they had said, you know what, we really screwed up, and we’ve learned from our mistakes; we’re going to do things differently this time. That’s not what they’re doing.
When the leader of their campaign committee was asked on national television what Republicans would do if they took over Congress, you know what he said? He said, we’ll do exactly the same thing we did the last time. (Applause.) That’s what he said. It’s on tape.
So basically, here’s what this election comes down to. They’re betting that between now and November, you’re going to come down with amnesia. (Laughter.) They figure you’re going to forget what their agenda did to this country. They think you’ll just believe that they’ve changed.
These are the folks whose policies helped devastate our middle class. They drove our economy into a ditch. And we got in there and put on our boots and we pushed and we shoved. And we were sweating and these guys were standing, watching us and sipping on a Slurpee. (Laughter.) And they were pointing at us saying, how come you’re not pushing harder, how come you’re not pushing faster? And then when we finally got the car up -- and it’s got a few dings and a few dents, it’s got some mud on it, we’re going to have to do some work on it -- they point to everybody and say, look what these guys did to your car. (Laughter.) After we got it out of the ditch! And then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back! (Laughter and applause.) I don’t want to give them the keys back. They don’t know how to drive. (Applause.)
I mean, I want everything to think about it here. When you want to go forward in your car, what do you do?
AUDIENCE: D!
THE PRESIDENT: You put it in D. They’re going to pop it in reverse. They’d have those special interests riding shotgun, then they’d hit the gas and we’d be right back in the ditch. (Laughter.)
Milwaukee, we are not going backwards. That’s the choice we face this fall. Do we want to go back? Or do we want to go forward? I say we want to move forward. America always moves forward. We keep moving forward every day. (Applause.)
Let me say this, Milwaukee. I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried. I know there’s still a lot of hurt out here. I hear it when I travel around the country. I see it in the letters that I read every night from folks who are looking for a job or lost their home. It breaks my heart, because those are the folks that I got into politics for. You’re the reason I’m here. (Applause.)
And when times are tough -- when times are tough, I know it can be easy to give in to cynicism. I know it can be easy to give in to fear and doubt. And you know, it’s easy sometimes for folks to stir up stuff and turn people on each other, and it’s easy to settle for something less, to set our sights a little bit lower.
But I just want everybody here to remember, that’s not who we are. That’s not the country I know. We do not give up. We do not quit. We face down war. We face down depression. We face down great challenges and great threats. We have lit the way for the rest of the world.
Whenever times have seemed at their worst, Americans have been at their best. That’s when we roll up our sleeves. That’s when we remember we rise or fall together –- as one nation and as one people. (Applause.) That’s the spirit that started the labor movement, the idea that alone, we may be weak. Divided, we may fall. But we are united, we are strong. That’s why they call them unions. That’s why we call this the United States of America. (Applause.)
I’m going to make this case across the country between now and November. And I am asking for your help. And if you are willing to join me and Tom Barrett and Gwen Moore and Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, we can strengthen our middle class and make this economy work for all Americans again and restore the American Dream and give it to our children and our grandchildren. (Applause.)
God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
END
2:50 P.M. CDT
Background on the President?s Remarks Today at Milwaukee Laborfest
REMARKS AT 2010 MILWAUKEE LABORFEST
Henry Maier Festival Park
2:10 PM CDT
Today, President Barack Obama will announce a comprehensive infrastructure plan to expand and renew our nation’s roads, railways and runways at the annual Milwaukee Area Labor Council Laborfest, an event sponsored by the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and affiliate unions. Laborfest is open to the general public, the speaking program will be ticketed, with most tickets distributed to union members and their families. Pre-Program speakers and elected officials expected to attend are listed below.
PRE-PROGRAM
Milwaukee Area Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Sheila Cochran
Congresswoman Gwen Moore
Mayor Tom Barrett
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
EXPECTED TO ATTEND
Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Dave Newby
Senator Herb Kohl
NOTE: Senator Russ Feingold will make an appearance at the Laborfest parade in the morning, but will be in Janesville at his hometown parade, an event he attends every year, during the event.
President Obama to Announce Plan to Renew and Expand America?s Roads, Railways and Runways
Infrastructure investments one key way to continue recovery and keep our economy growing
WASHINGTON – Today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Barack Obama will announce a comprehensive infrastructure plan to expand and renew our nation’s roads, railways and runways.
This proposal is among a set of targeted initiatives that the President will outline in Cleveland on Wednesday to support our economic recovery and ensure long-term sustainable growth. The plan builds upon the infrastructure investments the President has already made through the Recovery Act, includes principles the President put forth during the campaign, and emphasizes American competitiveness and innovation.
A fact sheet on the President’s plan announced today is below.
FACT SHEET: Renewing and Expanding America’s Roads, Railways, and Runways
The President today laid out a bold vision for renewing and expanding our transportation infrastructure – in a plan that combines a long-term vision for the future with new investments. A significant portion of the new investments would be front-loaded in the first year.
This plan would build on the investments we have already made under the Recovery Act, create jobs for American workers to strengthen our economy now, and increase our nation’s growth and productivity in the future. At the same time, the plan would reform the way America currently invests in transportation, changing our focus to enhancing competition, innovation, performance, and real analysis that gets taxpayers the best bang for the buck, while moving away from the earmarks and formula debates of the past. In prior years, transportation infrastructure was an issue that both parties worked on together, and the Administration hopes the same can be true now.
Some of the tangible accomplishments of the President’s plan over the next six years include:
The President’s plan would accomplish this through:
The long-term framework includes meaningful reforms:
Specifically, the President proposes to make the initial up-front investment in the following areas:
Weekly Address: President Obama Honors America's Workers; Outlines Steps Taken to Strengthen the Middle Class
WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to America’s workers and the middle class. Even before the current recession hit, the middle class had been hurting from stagnant incomes and declining economic security. To repair the economy and strengthen the middle class, the administration has invested in infrastructure projects that will lead to jobs in the private sector, taken emergency steps to prevent the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and cops, and cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. The President is fighting to pass a law that will provide tax breaks for folks who create jobs in America.
The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can be viewed online at www.whitehouse.gov.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Weekly Address
Washington DC
On Monday, we celebrate Labor Day. It’s a chance to get together with family and friends, to throw some food on the grill, and have a good time. But it’s also a day to honor the American worker – to reaffirm our commitment to the great American middle class that has, for generations, made our economy the envy of the world.
That is especially important now. I don’t have to tell you that this is a very tough time for our country. Millions of our neighbors have been swept up in the worst recession in our lifetimes. And long before this recession hit, the middle class had been taking some hard shots. Long before this recession, the values of hard work and responsibility that built this country had been given short shrift.
For a decade, middle class families felt the sting of stagnant incomes and declining economic security. Companies were rewarded with tax breaks for creating jobs overseas. Wall Street firms turned huge profits by taking, in some cases, reckless risks and cutting corners. All of this came at the expense of working Americans, who were fighting harder and harder just to stay afloat – often borrowing against inflated home values to pay their bills. Ultimately, the house of cards collapsed.
So this Labor Day, we should recommit ourselves to our time-honored values and to this fundamental truth: to heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling main streets and a growing, thriving middle class. That’s why I will keep working day-by-day to restore opportunity, economic security, and that basic American Dream for our families and future generations.
First, that means doing everything we can to accelerate job creation. The steps we have taken to date have stopped the bleeding: investments in roads and bridges and high-speed railroads that will lead to hundreds of thousands of jobs in the private sector; emergency steps to prevent the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and firefighters and police officers; and tax cuts and loans for small business owners who create most of the jobs in America. We also ended a tax loophole that encouraged companies to create jobs overseas. Instead, I’m fighting to pass a law to provide tax breaks to the folks who create jobs right here in America.
But strengthening our economy means more than that. We’re fighting to build an economy in which middle class families can afford to send their kids to college, buy a home, save for retirement, and achieve some measure of economic security when their working days are done. And over the last two years, that has meant taking on some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for far too long.
That’s why we’ve put an end to the wasteful subsidies to big banks that provide student loans. We’re going to use that money to make college more affordable for students instead.
That’s why we’re making it easier for workers to save for retirement, with new ways of saving their tax refunds and a simpler system for enrolling in retirement plans like 401(k)s. And we’re going to keep up the fight to protect Social Security for generations to come.
That’s why we stopped insurance companies from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions and dropping folks who become seriously ill.
And that’s why we cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, and passed a law to help make sure women earn equal pay for equal work in the United States of America.
This Labor Day, we are reminded that we didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world by rewarding greed and recklessness. We did it by rewarding hard work and responsibility. We did it by recognizing that we rise or we fall together as one nation – one people – all of us vested in one another. That is how we have succeeded in the past. And that is how we will not only rebuild this economy, but rebuild it stronger than ever before.
Thank you. And I hope you have a great Labor Day weekend.
Presidential Memorandum-- Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Resulting from Flooding in Pakistan
September 3, 2010
Presidential Determination No. 2010-14
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the "Act"), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601(c)(1)), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $33 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs resulting from recent devastating flooding in Pakistan.
You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
President Obama to Award Medal of Honor
On September 21, President Barack Obama will award Chief Master Sergeant Richard L. Etchberger, U.S. Air Force, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. Chief Etchberger will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat on March 11, 1968 in the country of Laos. He displayed immeasurable courage and uncommon valor - deliberately exposing himself to enemy fire in order to place his three surviving wounded comrades in the rescue slings permitting them to be airlifted to safety. As he was finally being rescued, he was fatally wounded by enemy ground fire. Chief Etchberger's sons, Cory Etchberger, Richard Etchberger and Steve Wilson will join the President at the White House to commemorate their father’s example of selfless service and sacrifice.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND:
Richard (Dick) L. Etchberger served in the United States Air Force from 1951 – 1968. Born in Hamburg, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1933, he was inspired to join the military due to his brother Bob enlisting in the Navy in early 1946. Upon joining the USAF on August 31, 1951, he proved to have a high aptitude in electronics and began long list of training and assignments that he would undergo to become a master in his career field. On April 1, 1967, he was promoted to Chief Master Sergeant. He held assignments in Mississippi, Utah, Morocco, North Dakota, Philippines, Illinois and the Republic of Vietnam.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
THE MEDAL OF HONOR:
The Medal of Honor is awarded to a member of the Armed Forces who distinguishes themselves conspicuously by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while:
The meritorious conduct must involve great personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life. There must be incontestable proof of the performance of the meritorious conduct, and each recommendation for the award must be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit.
Presidential Proclamation-Labor Day
A PROCLAMATION
Working Americans are the foundation of our Nation's continued economic success and prosperity. From constructing the first transcontinental railroad to shaping our city skylines, they have built our country and propelled it forward. Through great innovation and perseverance, our labor force has forged America as a land of limitless possibility and a leader in the global marketplace. On Labor Day, we honor the enduring values and immeasurable contributions of working men and women today and throughout our history.
As we recognize the contributions of the American workers who have built our country, we must continue to protect their vital role and that of organized labor in our national life. Workers have not always possessed the same rights and benefits many enjoy today. Over time, they have fought for and gained fairer pay, better benefits, and safer work environments. From the factory floors during the Industrial Revolution to the shopping aisles of today's superstores, organized labor has provided millions of hard-working men and women with a voice in the workplace and an unprecedented path into our strong middle class. By advocating on behalf of our families, labor unions have helped advance the safe and equitable working conditions that every worker deserves.
Today, as we emerge from the worst recession since the Great Depression, far too many American workers remain without a job. With every work hour lost and every plant closure and layoff, families and communities struggle to make ends meet and face difficult decisions about how to stay afloat. Yet, in the face of this tremendous challenge, our workers have renewed their commitment to achieving the American dream by training and educating themselves for careers crucial to our long-term competitiveness. To rebuild our economy, my Administration is focusing on job training and investing in industries that cannot be outsourced. By focusing on recovery at home, we are saving or creating millions of jobs in America and supporting the working men and women who will drive our 21st-century economy. More remains to be done, but we have taken important steps forward toward recovery.
American workers have always been ready to roll up their sleeves, clock in, and earn an honest living. That steady determination is why I have confidence in the American economy and confidence that we can overcome the challenges we face. There is no greater example of our country's resolve and resilience than that of our workers. As we celebrate Labor Day, we honor those who have advanced our Nation's strength and prosperity -- American workers.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 6, 2010, as Labor Day. I call upon all public officials and people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that acknowledge the tremendous contributions of working Americans and their families.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Upcoming Visit of NATO Secretary General
President Obama will welcome the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, to the White House on September 7, 2010. As part of the President’s ongoing consultations with allies about our global agenda, the two leaders will discuss NATO’s role in advancing our shared interests in Europe and beyond, including through the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan. They will discuss preparations for the November 19-20, 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, which will include a focus on NATO’s development of new capabilities that ensure it is able to respond effectively to 21st century challenges.
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Attacks Today in Pakistan
The United States condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the terrorist attacks on a religious procession in Quetta and an Ahmedi worship center in Peshawar. We offer our sincere condolences to the families of the victims.
To target innocent civilians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at an already difficult time as the country is working hard to recover from terrible flooding caused by monsoons makes these acts even more reprehensible.
In line with the deepening partnership between our two nations, the United States government continues to assist and work closely with the Government of Pakistan in its efforts to rebuild and recover, and we will continue to stand with the people of Pakistan as they face these challenging times.
President Obama to host second U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Meeting
The President will host a meeting with leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in New York City on September 24, 2010. The President has invited the leaders of the ten ASEAN member states as well as ASEAN’s Secretary General to join him for the second ever U.S.-ASEAN leaders meeting. At the first such meeting, held in Singapore in November 2009, the President and the ASEAN leaders pledged to deepen cooperation in a number of areas of common concern including trade and investment, regional security, disaster management, food and energy security, and climate change. The President looks forward to working with the leaders to assess the progress on these issues, identify future efforts to strengthen U.S.-ASEAN relations, and discuss multilateral approaches for greater regional cooperation.
Remarks by the President on Monthly Unemployment Numbers
10:16 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. As we head into Labor Day weekend, I know many people across this country are concerned about what the future holds for themselves, for their families, and for the economy as a whole.
As I’ve said from the start, there’s no quick fix to the worst recession we've experienced since the Great Depression. The hard truth is that it took years to create our current economic problems, and it will take more time than any of us would like to repair the damage. Millions of our neighbors are living with that painfully every day.
But I want all Americans to remind themselves there are better days ahead. Even after this economic crisis, our markets remain the most dynamic in the world. Our workers are still the most productive. We remain the global leader in innovation, in discovery, in entrepreneurship.
Now, the month I took office, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. This morning, new figures show the economy produced 67,000 private sector jobs in August -– the eighth consecutive month of private job growth. Additionally, the numbers for July were revised upward to 107,000.
Now, that’s positive news, and it reflects the steps we’ve already taken to break the back of this recession. But it’s not nearly good enough. That’s why we need to take further steps to create jobs and keep the economy growing, including extending tax cuts for the middle class and investing in the areas of our economy where the potential for job growth is greatest. In the weeks ahead, I’ll be discussing some of these ideas in more detail.
But one thing we also have to do right now –- one thing we have a responsibility to do right now –- is to lift up our small businesses, which accounted for over 60 percent of job losses in the final months of last year. That's why once again, I’m calling on Congress to make passing a small business jobs bill its first order of business when it gets back into session later this month.
Now, here’s why this is so important. Up until this past May, we were not only waiving fees for entrepreneurs who took out Small Business Administration loans, we were also encouraging more community banks to make loans to responsible business owners. These steps are part of the reason about 70,000 new Small Business Administration loans have been approved since I took office. And I thank Karen Mills for the outstanding job she’s been doing as Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
We’ve also been extending -- fighting to extend these loan enhancements with a small business jobs bill. It’s a bill that will more than double the amount some small business owners can borrow to grow their companies. It will completely eliminate capital gains taxes on key investments, so small business owners can buy new equipment and expand. And it will accelerate $55 billion in tax cuts for businesses, large and small, that make job-creating investments in the next 14 months.
And keep in mind, it is paid for. It will not add one dime to our deficit. So, put simply, this piece of legislation is good for workers; it’s good for small business people; it’s good for our economy. And yet, Republicans in the Senate have blocked this bill -- a needless delay that has led small business owners across this country to put off hiring, put off expanding, and put off plans that will make our economy stronger.
I’ve repeated since I ran for office, there is no silver bullet that is going to solve all of our economic problems overnight. But there are certain steps that we know will make a meaningful difference for small businessmen and women, who are the primary drivers of job creation. There are certain measures that we know will advance our recovery. This small business jobs bill is one of them.
And I’m confident that if we’re willing to put partisanship aside and be the leaders the American people need us to be, if we’re willing to do what’s next not for the -- what’s best not for the next election, but for the next generation, then we are not only going to see America’s hardworking families and America’s small businesses bounce back, but we’ll rebuild America’s economy stronger than it’s been before.
Thank you very much.
Q Mr. President, what are the other incentives that you mentioned Monday, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I will be addressing a broader package of ideas next week. We are confident that we are moving in the right direction, but we want to keep this recovery moving stronger and accelerate the job growth that’s needed so desperately all across the country.
Q What about a poverty agenda, Mr. President? What about a poverty agenda for all classes --
Q Mr. President, to what degree to you regret the administration’s decision to call this “Recovery Summer”?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t regret the notion that we are moving forward because of the steps that we’ve taken. And I’m going to have a press conference next week where, after you guys are able to hear where we’re at, we’ll be able to answer some specific questions.
But the key point I'm making right now is that the economy is moving in a positive direction. Jobs are being created. They’re just not being created as fast as they need to, given the big hole that we experienced. And we’re going to have to continue to work with Republicans and Democrats to come up with ideas that can further accelerate that job growth.
I'm confident that we can do that. And the evidence that we’ve seen during the course of this summer and over the course of the last 18 months indicate that we’re moving in the right direction. We just have to speed it up.
All right? Thank you very much, everybody.
END
10:22 A.M. EDT
President Obama Signs Massachusetts Emergency Disaster Declaration
The President today declared an emergency exists in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and ordered Federal aid to supplement Commonwealth and local response efforts in the area struck by Hurricane Earl beginning on September 1, 2010, and continuing.
The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.
W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named James N. Russo as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-3272.
Readout of President Obama's Recent Calls on the Middle East
President Obama called President Sarkozy earlier today to thank him for his support for a comprehensive Middle East peace, and to consult on next steps to encourage further progress in the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The President noted that he had a productive series of meetings yesterday, and said that he believed the two parties were committed to achieving progress. President Sarkozy affirmed his full support for the peace talks and his commitment to working with President Obama and the other leaders to advance the process. Both leaders agreed to remain in close touch on this issue as part of their ongoing cooperation.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, August 31, the President called King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to discuss the situation in the region, including direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians and the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq.
Trip by National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers and Deputy National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon to China
On September 4, 2010, National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers and Deputy National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon will travel to Beijing, China for three days of meetings with Chinese leaders and policymakers, including Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo. Lawrence H. Summers and Thomas E. Donilon will discuss a wide range of issues touching on bilateral and international issues.
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, 9/2/2010
* The President spoke with FEMA Administrator Fugate today at 1:15p.m.EDT about Hurricane Earl.
* The President was briefed on the oil platform fire in the Gulf and the government response today by Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan.
12:20 P.M. EDT
MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Let me begin with one just quick statement on Hurricane Earl.
The President is closely monitoring and aggressively preparing for the storm as it continues to head toward the East Coast. On its current track, Hurricane Earl could approach the coast of North Carolina by late tonight or early Friday morning.
Last night the President signed a pre-landfall emergency declaration for the state of North Carolina, ensuring the state has what it needs beforehand. And FEMA has already moved teams and supplies into states along the East Coast to provide support and resources as needed.
As you know, yesterday Administrator Fugate provided the President with an update, and FEMA is in close contact and coordination with the governors and their teams up and down the eastern seaboard to ensure that they have the support they need should the storm make landfall later tonight or tomorrow.
I do expect that the President will speak with the FEMA administrator again today, and we will let you know when that happens.*
Yes, ma’am.
Q The Mideast. Do you have any sort of update to offer on how the talks are going so far?
MR. GIBBS: Well, let me give you just a little bit from -- well, obviously, as you all know, the talks are ongoing. We expect that at some point, I would say in the next hour or so, Senator Mitchell, our special envoy for Middle East peace, will conduct a briefing on what has transpired today.
I would say that the President was encouraged in his meetings yesterday by the very serious attitude that each of the leaders brought about these talks and about a long-term lasting peace for the Middle East. All view this as a tremendously important opportunity. I think you all saw the pictures last evening and the powerful statements that were made by the leaders in the Middle East.
I would also say that the President, as he did in the Rose Garden yesterday afternoon, remind everyone that there are still deep divisions. There are still years of mistrust to overcome. That’s not going to be wiped away in one meeting or in one day, and we understand that.
The failure, though -- the failure to try is not something the President wants to do.
Q It seems like one of those deep divisions that you speak of is Hamas. How does the administration plan to deal with them? They don’t recognize Israel. They’re promising more attacks.
MR. GIBBS: I’m sorry --
Q Is there a plan for dealing with Hamas?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, why don’t I defer questions about what transpired today in the talks until Senator Mitchell has an opportunity to answer some of those questions at the conclusion of the meetings today. All right?
Yes, sir.
Q Robert, a question about Christy Romer’s remarks yesterday. She said -- I have it in front of me -- “The only surefire ways for policymakers to substantially increase aggregate demand in the short run are for the government to spend more and tax less. In my view, we should be moving forward in both fronts.”
That sounds like setting a stage for a second stimulus.
MR. GIBBS: Well, let me -- I’ll be somewhat broad in my answer and a little -- let’s go back to -- well, both what the President said and what I said on Monday. And I think the actions and the steps that this administration has taken over the course of the past two years -- first and foremost, the President is -- and the team are looking at ideas. And he enumerated some of those parameters, including infrastructure. And certainly in terms of cutting taxes, there’s a bill pending before the United States Senate that the President -- you’ve heard the President speak on many occasions that would, indeed, cut taxes on small business.
I think if you look at -- if you go back to a year ago, outside of the Recovery Act, we pursued and the President signed legislation that enabled Cash for Clunkers. The President spoke in December of last year about targeted measures that can be taken to help the recovery. Those have included the bipartisan HIRE Act, which helps cut taxes for those that do add employees. We have expanded -- we’ve given states more money to ensure that things like teachers and firefighters weren’t laid off. We’ve expanded and continued unemployment insurance, and a small business bill has passed the House.
So look, we will continue to look at and take steps that are, as I talked about on Monday, that are targeted in nature, to help continue the recovery and to help create an environment where the private sector is adding jobs.
Q I think we are all aware of the steps that have been taken. What Dr. Romer seems to be saying here is that a lot more spending needs to come to make this economic recovery increase.
MR. GIBBS: Again, I would -- I’d point you to what the President said on Monday. I don’t think that is -- I don’t think that is -- I think -- I would -- again, I would point you to what the President said is -- as ideas that are being looked at. And as I said here on Monday, some big new stimulus plan is not in the offing.
Q How would you interpret, then, what she said?
MR. GIBBS: Again, I would interpret what she said to be very much in line with what the President said on Monday.
Q Following on that, on jobs, what does the President expect out of the jobless numbers tomorrow? And has the economic team come up with some of those new ideas that you talked about?
MR. GIBBS: Well, let me take the second question first, and that is those meetings and those discussions continue to take place. I’m not going to get ahead of any of those ultimate decisions.
It’s probably -- well, it is not helpful for me to speculate on the jobs numbers. I say this for the benefit of anybody that is watching -- I do not know the numbers, I will not know the numbers, just so anything that is said in the next several minutes has nothing to do with my knowledge about the numbers. I do that because everybody gets nervous that if I make a comment, somehow I knew the number.
Q There’s an oil-production platform in the Gulf that’s on fire. Does it present any of the same problems of the BP rig? It’s obviously not under a moratorium. Do you know anything more about the accident?
MR. GIBBS: Well, let me just say -- here’s what I know before we came out here. This is a -- I’m told this is a production platform about 100 miles off the coast. I am told the depth of water is about 340 feet. So this is not a -- this is not a deepwater facility.
As I understand it, the well was not in active production. I will in some ways reiterate what I think the Coast Guard has said in a statement that they’ve released, and that is that they responded to the preliminary reports of a fire onboard an oil platform in the Gulf. The initial report that we got were that 13 persons -- 13 people were on the platform. They are accounted for; one is injured and is on his way out of that area.
Two Coast Guard cutters, multiple Coast Guard aircraft were en route. One Coast Guard helicopter was on the scene. We will continue to gather information as we respond. We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water.
Q Is the President convinced that the inspection of rigs in the Gulf of Mexico is moving fast enough?
MR. GIBBS: I have not gotten a recent update on that. I will try to get one. Obviously we have taken some -- we took a series of steps after the BP incident, primarily around deepwater drilling. Let me not go too much further than what I have. And if the situation warrants, we’ll certainly update that.
I will say the President was in a meeting in the Situation Room. I don’t know if he’s been notified. John Brennan, who was in that meeting, does know about the incident. I just don’t -- before somebody asks -- I don’t know whether or not --
Q What’s the Sit Room meeting on?
MR. GIBBS: It’s a national security meeting -- that John had or had not had a chance to discuss that with the President.
Q So who would be in charge -- just following up on the Coast Guard?
MR. GIBBS: I do not know who is on the scene, but you can -- the Coast Guard obviously -- the production facility is located in federal waters. They are the ones that are in response. I don’t know if there’s -- who the highest-ranking person is on the scene.
Q And just following up on the Middle East peace talks, what does the President see as his role going forward now? Does he feel like he’s appropriately set the stage and now it’s Secretary Clinton who is taking the lead? And if there’s additional talks, say, hosted by Egypt, would the President be the one who would be attending, or is he stepping back now and letting --
MR. GIBBS: I don’t want to make any scheduling pronouncements. I’ll do this in a couple ways. Obviously Secretary Clinton has -- is conducting and is the lead on this as she conducts these meetings today. Obviously our special envoy, George Mitchell, has spent a lot of time in the region, as has the Secretary.
Look, we have said this from the very beginning, and as I mentioned the other day, one of the very first things the President did upon walking into the Oval Office that very first, full morning was to make calls to leaders in the region, some of whom obviously were here yesterday. I think this is true historically, and that is when we are actively involved and engaged, there’s a better chance for peace. That’s been President Obama’s viewpoint and the whole team’s viewpoint.
So I can’t speak to what our involvement would be at different points in this -- leave that for a sort of situational discussion. But obviously we have over the past many months been actively involved and engaged and will continue to be actively involved and engaged, as the best way to make progress, we have always felt, is to do so the same way they’re doing today, and that is to sit at that table and have direct talks.
Q And does the President see this scenario differently and more optimistically than previous administrations, A, because of more stability in the West Bank, or because of the potential mutual threat from Iran becoming nuclear? How does he see this as any different than previous administrations?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I’d say first and foremost, I think the President felt that the meetings yesterday, as he said, were productive and believed that each of the leaders was genuine and serious about seeking peace. At the same time, we understand that this is -- as I said earlier, this is something that has eluded generations. We’re mindful of that.
So we will stay engaged. We will do what is necessary, and then we hope that each side will continue to take steps necessary to make -- build confidence and make these talks productive.
Q Does he believe that the mutual -- potential mutual threat by a nuclear Iran is helping bring these two sides together?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, we have always maintained that peace was in the best interest of each of these entities involved, regardless of anything else in the Middle East. I think that was true when the President first came in and certainly is true and is governing our actions today.
Yes, sir.
Q The numbers for members of Congress have gone through the floor in recent weeks, for the Democrats. Why do you think that is? And why hasn’t the President done more during the recess in August basically to try to shore them up? It looks like they’re in a terrible spot. The numbers for members of Congress --
MR. GIBBS: Which numbers?
Q The polling numbers for people who are running for office. Democrats’ numbers have nosedived during the month of August.
MR. GIBBS: You sound like a radio guy when you’re doing the -- nosedive --
Q I could give you a chart, but you get the idea.
MR. GIBBS: Yes, look, we are -- the President will continue to make a very active case for the steps that the administration has taken and why we have to continue to move forward on that path.
Bill, I --
Q He didn’t do much during August. Why not?
MR. GIBBS: I will say this, Bill, the President has been fairly active in both campaigning and in raising money. What the President is helping the Democratic National Committee do is something that the Democratic National Committee has never done in supporting Senate and congressional candidates. And it’s something we’ll continue to do.
Q What is it that they’ve never done?
MR. GIBBS: The level of support.
Q Oh.
MR. GIBBS: Yes.
Q Robert, following up on what Ann was saying about the economy, not about the numbers tomorrow, but the snapshot that we got today of the new unemployment claims down, but also productivity down and labor costs up -- what does that snapshot tell you about the state of the recovery?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think -- let me give you an answer that’s not necessarily based on one unemployment claims report today because I am somewhat hesitant to get into what are always going to be the week-to-week swings of unemployment claims.
I think it is safe to say that we are in a markedly different and better position than we were a year or a year and a half ago. Our economy is expanding. We’ve created about 600,000 private sector jobs throughout the course of this year.
As I have said earlier and I think as the President has said, there’s no question that the trajectory of that recovery based on events, particularly in Greece, have changed that trajectory from where we were at some point in the spring.
We have to continue to be mindful of whatever steps might be necessary to continue that recovery.
Q What are those? What do you do to turn it around or get it going in a stronger, higher trajectory?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, that’s some of the discussions that the economic team is having. And I’d point you to what the President said in the Rose Garden about that on Monday.
Q Okay, and one other thing on FEMA. You said FEMA is moving teams along the East Coast and supplies. Can you give us more details on where and what supplies?
MR. GIBBS: Yes, let me get a comprehensive list and we’ll send it around to you at the end of this.
Q You just said and the President said on Monday that you all are considering a range of new items on the economy to try to turn things around. Assuming time is of the essence, can you give us a sense of how soon you might roll some of these out, and whether you would do it piece by piece or --
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know that those -- obviously they’re still doing meetings and discussions on this. I don’t have any scheduling updates.
Q Would you agree that it’s something that you’d rather do sooner rather than later? Or is it a matter of -- would you do it piece by piece? Or do you want to roll out --
MR. GIBBS: Again, I think the final decisions would have to be made before I’d have a good understanding to be able to talk about it.
Q Given that so much of recovery has to do with confidence and how people feel about the economy, can you talk about what your strategy is in terms of how to talk about the economy, tempering the balance between being realistic but also trying to convey confidence?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think you’ve heard the President -- I would point to what the President said in his speech to the nation on Iraq, that we are and always have been a very special country. We are in charge of our own destiny.
I think you’ve heard the President over the past many weeks talk about the steps that we’ve taken, and the fact that if you look at, again, where we were at the end of 2008 and even the first quarter or so in 2009, we’ve made some important progress. But there’s important progress yet to make.
That’s why the President continues to look at ideas that might help create an environment for more private sector hiring. That’s why we’ll continue to look at and make investments that are important in creating the jobs of the future.
I think you’ll hear the President talk about a combination of that, expressing confidence that we are headed in the right direction, albeit not as quickly as anybody, including the President, would like to see.
Q Would the President tell people they should save right now because we’re in a trying time? Or they should spend because the economy is strong and it’s helpful --
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think the President would say that -- I’m not going to get into individual purchasing decisions. I think the President would say that we are making progress, that our economy is stronger than it’s been in a while. And we have to continue to be mindful of and try to make progress on making that -- making this recovery one that’s even stronger.
There’s no doubt, Savannah, there are -- the depths of what we entered are unlike anything that we’ve experienced since the Great Depression. And we’ve got a big hole to fill and a lot of jobs to create to put the people that are -- that want to work fully back to work. And that’s what the President’s goal obviously is.
Q And then real quick, GM put off its IPO and road show until after the election. I wonder if the White House or the administration had anything to do with that timing decision?
MR. GIBBS: The White House is not involved in and not going to discuss IPO based on regulators watching what people do and say around IPOs.
Jonathan.
Q Let me come at this economic question a different way. Congress is going to be back in Washington in a week and a half. Beside the small business bill, what is on the President’s must-do list before they’re back out and campaigning? Because they don’t have a lot of time.
MR. GIBBS: No, they don’t. And I know you caveated by saying you assume small business. But I -- this is something the President has talked a lot about. I’m going to spend another 30 seconds doing it one more time because I -- what this town does a lot is, okay, I know what you’re doing now, but what are you going to do next. I point out that the article that I held up here just the other day -- small businesses have delayed their hiring decisions, small businesses have delayed their expansion decisions, small businesses have delayed their investment decisions, waiting to see what the Senate will do on the small business bill.
So I don’t want to discount that the engine of our economy -- as the President said, 60 percent of the job losses come from small business. There are some concrete steps that we can and should take when Congress does come back in a week and a half to change that.
Obviously the President is mindful of the tax cuts for the middle class that expire at the end of the year, and the President will fight to ensure that those middle-class tax cuts are protected. I think that is something that we’ll obviously have a fairly robust discussion on, not just in the remaining weeks of Congress but throughout the election and maybe after the election.
Q From what I understand, Nancy Pelosi is worried that as the tax cut debate goes on this fall in the Senate that the White House will cave to pressures from some moderate Democrats to just extend all the tax cuts for another year. Can you reassure her of that?
MR. GIBBS: I like that you’re my Nancy Pelosi go-between, Jonathan. (Laughter.) I will reiterate what we’ve said throughout this debate, and that is the President believes that the tax cuts for those in the middle class should be maintained, they should be kept. The money that would be spent to keep those tax breaks for people that make more than $250,000 a year -- and let’s be clear that the majority of the money that would be spent next year on maintaining those tax cuts are for people that make more than a million dollars a year -- okay? That is a statistical fact.
There are -- if the Republicans are bent on spending an additional $35 billion, I think there are many economists and certainly the Congressional Budget Office has looked at many ways that could stimulate the economy -- extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest, those that are making that million dollars, is the least stimulative way to impact our economy.
So we are focused first and foremost and only on extending tax cuts for the middle class.
Q And one quick question --
MR. GIBBS: Please relay that back to the Speaker. (Laughter.)
Q All right. You’ve got a bunch of openings -- new chairman of the CEA, Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Comptroller of the Currency.
MR. GIBBS: I’m sorry, Jonathan, the CEA thing is not going to work out, but -- (laughter.)
Q God, if you were even thinking about that --
MR. GIBBS: Amy was supposed to tell you that before the briefing started.
Q Do you have timing on any of these --
MR. GIBBS: No. As I said earlier in the week, I didn’t expect that CEA and Consumer would be done this week. It’s not. Obviously Dr. Romer’s tenure concludes tomorrow. I do not have a timeline for those two openings.
Mark.
Q Robert, can you say what the NSC meeting is about today?
MR. GIBBS: A series of national security issues.
Q Routine? Or urgent?
MR. GIBBS: Some -- no, I would not -- I don’t want to get everybody nervous. It’s not a -- it’s something that the President does fairly regularly.
Q Robert, in his speech on Tuesday night, President Obama said that there could be patriots on both sides of the Iraq issue. Does he believe there could be patriots on both sides of health care issue, government spending, taxes and the like?
MR. GIBBS: Sure. I mean, look, first, inherent in your question, Mark, is that I don’t think that if the -- I don’t -- the President is not going to question the patriotism of those that have a different view than him. I don’t -- that’s never been -- they may have policy disagreements, but I don’t think, based on those disagreements -- at least the President would not make the argument that somebody is more or less patriotic based on the fact that they share his position on a certain policy issue.
Q But he accuses Republicans of game-playing, of holding issues hostage. I mean, that certainly casts a dispersion --
MR. GIBBS: That’s true, too.
Q Well, can you have it both ways?
MR. GIBBS: Well, let’s take, for instance, what the President said on Monday about the small business bill. The President asked the Republican Party to end the blockade on needed and necessary aid for small businesses. What I think is somewhat undeniable is they’ve held up that bill. I don’t -- if the Republicans are proud of holding that bill up, I don’t think they should have any problem with the President mentioning that they’re holding that bill up.
I do think that’s somewhat if not markedly different from questioning their patriotism for holding up the bill, which I don’t think you’ll hear the President do.
Q And on a lighter note, any comment from the President on the reviews of the new Oval Office décor? (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: I have not heard him give a review on the reviews. I don’t know --
Q Was he involved in picking the color scheme? (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: I will tell you, Mark, that is not something -- I know you’ll be surprised that I was not consulted stylistically.
Q Are you officially neutral? (Laughter.)
Q Actually, you would match very well. (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: I’m trying for one more day in the summer, so don’t read anything into my suit. (Laughter.)
Q Great headline in the Style section -- “The Audacity of Taupe.” (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: I think I heard Burton say that first, so I don’t know if he got some sort of a credit on that.
Julianna.
Q The rig explosion today -- it is in shallow water, but would it have any impact on the current deepwater drilling moratorium?
MR. GIBBS: Not that I know of. And I say that largely because obviously we are still trying to gather information about the events that are happening at that site right now. I think obviously there is a process at the Department of Interior around the existing deepwater moratorium. Hard to match those two issues up based on the fact that we don’t know a ton at the moment.
Q You don’t know if the President has been briefed on this yet, but is it possible that --
MR. GIBBS: My sense is that Brennan will likely have told him at the end of that meeting, but I don’t know that for sure yet.
Q But the current investigation into the Deepwater Horizon explosion, is it possible that that could be brought in -- does this raise new concerns about shallow-water drilling?
MR. GIBBS: Let me do this. Let me get -- I will go back and get as much of an update as we can throughout the day and see if any of that changes. I don’t -- at this point, based on what we know, I don’t want to marry those two up. I will double-check today.
Q So tomorrow is Dr. Romer’s last day. The White House had said that you had hoped to fill that vacancy by her last day. With the jobs report tomorrow, with the economic team trying -- working to come up with new measures, is there -- is it at all significant that there is a void now on the economic --
MR. GIBBS: No -- look, obviously there are -- we have a pretty full and robust team that will meet with the President in about 15 minutes. Obviously as soon as we have an announcement on a CEA replacement we’ll let you know.
Q Will there be an acting director in the interim?
MR. GIBBS: There could be. But again, I don’t -- none of those, that I know of, none of those final decisions have been made.
Q And then one last question. Larry Summers and Tom Donilon are going to China next week. Could you talk on what’s on the agenda, what’s the purpose of that visit?
MR. GIBBS: Let me -- I think we’re going to put out some stuff on that in a little bit, so let me wait for that.
Q Robert --
Q It’s you or Mitchell.
MR. GIBBS: What’s that?
Q It’s you or Mitchell.
MR. GIBBS: I understand what you’ve chosen there, Bill. I don’t take it personally.
Q Robert, you’ve said both that there’s -- no new big stimulus plans are in the offing; on the other hand, the economic team is looking for new ideas. Has the President come to any conclusions about whether any new policy initiatives, other than the ones that are stalled in the Senate, could affect the economy between now and Labor Day? Just some basic --
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, that’s -- let me, first of all, in that first part, when I say -- inherent in the first part of your question is, as I said and as the President said on Monday, we are mindful of, as I listed earlier, targeted measures that can or should be taken in order to continue a trajectory of recovery. Obviously, again, Mara, those meetings are ongoing in identifying and looking at a whole host of those ideas.
Q I guess what I’m confused about is, I mean, the meetings are ongoing. The economy has been stalling for a while. You have a very short time frame here. Isn’t there some sense of urgency about getting new targeted initiatives if you’re going to have some?
MR. GIBBS: Let me speak broadly. There’s been a sense of urgency about the economy since the moment we walked in here. Look, I think we have had to and we’ve taken some extraordinary steps to ensure that a recession did not become the next Great Depression.
Obviously we are mindful that -- as I think I said this the other day, that we are -- we do not want to see -- this is not a purely academic exercise. So obviously, as Jonathan mentioned, Congress is soon -- will soon be back in town, and --
Q Not for very long.
MR. GIBBS: No, not for very long, but obviously I anticipate that some of those decisions will get made -- will be made before that happens.
Q And just to follow up on a specific piece of that. You said that the Republicans were -- are hell bent on -- that wasn’t your exact words, on adding $35 million -- on $35 million to the deficit. There are more targeted ways to do that that are more stimulative than extending the tax cuts for the rich. How open is the President to a payroll tax holiday for employers and/or employees as one of those targeted things?
MR. GIBBS: Look, I’m just going to say, Mara, that obviously the team is looking at a whole host of issues. I don’t think it makes sense for me to get into what those are or might be individually.
Q Is the President tomorrow going to make any public statements about the job numbers?
MR. GIBBS: I believe that’s the case, yes.
Q And some Dems seem to be worried that the President doesn’t seem focused enough on the economy and creating jobs. What do you say to those Democrats who have those concerns?
MR. GIBBS: Like who?
Q Democrats I’ve talked to, Democratic aides on the Hill who say that they feel like the President isn’t focused enough. This week, of course, was dominated by foreign policy mostly. He inserted some comments about the economy in his Iraq speech. But those are some of the concerns that I’m hearing.
MR. GIBBS: Look, again, I don’t know who exactly you talked to but, again, this President has been focused on dealing with the economic problems that we faced the moment we came in here. We faced a housing crisis, a crisis in financial stability. Eight million jobs had been lost; the economy was contracting. For years, while productivity was up, paychecks were not.
The President has had to deal with each and every one of those issues. We’ve made progress on reducing foreclosures. We have gone from an economy that was contracting to one that’s expanding. We’ve gone from an economy that was shedding jobs to an economy that is creating jobs. So we have taken the necessary steps, many of them extraordinary in changing the direction of our economy. And the President will continue to dedicate more time to that than anything else on his schedule.
I will say this, because the President is giving a speech on Iraq does not mean that the President isn’t dealing with the economy, just like when there is something to deal with in foreign policy or in the economy, it doesn’t mean he’s not dealing with something internationally.
I mean, what comes with this job is -- well, I’ll say this. I have only worked here since sometime in the afternoon of the 20th of January 2009. I’ve yet to come here where somebody greeted me at the door and said, good news, there’s only one problem today. Trust me, every morning I pull up in hopes that someone does greet me like that. I don’t anticipate that it will happen.
Q Robert, one more on the economy and the measures that you’re contemplating. Without getting into specifics, has the President looked at the numbers, which do show a pretty dramatic slowdown in the recovery, and said, we need something dramatic here? Is something dramatic needed?
MR. GIBBS: I think the President continues to ask the economic team for what ideas they believe can help the economy now. Look, we have seen -- look, I mean, part of this obviously is there’s no doubt, as I said earlier, that the economic growth trajectory is not what it was in the spring. That’s what the President has asked folks to look at.
Some of these -- some of the measures that we see, and it’s why I didn’t want to talk specifically about one week’s unemployment claims -- if you look at car -- if you were to open the paper today and look at car sales, car sales today are compared to -- they usually do year-to-year comparisons. GM car sales down 28 percent or whatever they were. Those are comparisons to last August when Cash for Clunkers was there, when we were selling cars not at a rate of 11 or 11.5 million a year, but at 14 million a year, which is obviously what we would strive to get to, but not where we are economically.
So certainly the President has throughout the past many weeks kept up to speed and up to date on the latest economic data. Some of it has shown, as I said, there’s -- while there’s a change in growth, you look at something like yesterday where I think it’s -- without divining everything that happens in the stock market, that you had a pretty big rally fueled largely on a manufacturing index that showed, for instance, employment at a rate that folks hadn’t seen on that index since the early 1980s.
Q It sounds like a no, that the data doesn’t require something dramatic or eye-catching?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I do not anticipate something that rivals the extraordinary measures that the President has already taken.
Yes, ma’am.
Q May I follow up? You do seem to be laying the ground for modest changes. Peter Orszag said if you extended over 10 years all the 2001, 2003, it would cost $700 billion. But arguably, if you only do it for one year, it costs $70 billion. Is that affordable?
MR. GIBBS: Are you talking about for the upper end, or are you talking about --
Q All.
MR. GIBBS: All of them. Again, let’s take -- I think if you break out one year of -- I think if you were to extend the upper-end tax cuts for next year, I think the price tag is $35 billion.
Q Okay, so that’s even --
Q Would he veto a bill that has them in it, by the way?
MR. GIBBS: I wouldn’t get into a hypothetical like that. The President does not support extending the tax cuts for those that make, on average, about a million dollars a year. Those are -- again, I think it’s pretty safe to say -- I don’t think I’m being malicious to the Republican argument -- that they’re concerned about spending, right? That does not seem to necessarily carry over to tax cuts for those that make a million dollars a year.
The President believes that we should focus our tax relief on the middle class, certainly, one, because we can’t afford to make reckless economic decisions to extend tax cuts for people that weren’t asking for them and didn’t need them. And secondly, even if you did want to do something like that, there are, as I said earlier, far more -- far better ways, far more stimulative ways to impact the economy.
Q And just one -- I’m sorry -- just to follow up on a question by Mara about a payroll tax holiday. When you mentioned new hires incentives, that expires. But would you be in favor of an additional extension of that?
MR. GIBBS: Again, the team is looking at a range of ideas. I, for a lot of reasons, don’t want to get into each individual one.
Peter.
Q Thank you, Robert. In his Iraq speech, the President mentioned that the economic recovery is a central preoccupation. How are Americans to know that that is his primary concern? Does he need to -- in terms of the way he prioritizes his time, can he show Americans that the economy is his primary preoccupation?
MR. GIBBS: Again, I don’t -- having been here since the beginning, there isn’t an issue that the President has spent more time on than the economy, than on the economic recovery, than on financial stability, than on housing, than on -- I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.
Q If I could follow up. But when Americans see the President travel abroad, when Americans see him take a vacation -- not that he doesn’t deserve vacations, as do many people in this room -- (laughter) -- but might they draw the conclusion --
MR. GIBBS: That’s an interesting way of phrasing it.
Q Surely the people in the first two rows. (Laughter.) But don’t they --
MR. GIBBS: Careful, careful. Getting into row warfare. (Laughter.)
Q Might they draw conclusions that it’s not the kind of -- it’s maybe -- they don’t necessarily see the things you’re talking about, how the President multitasks?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, again -- I’m trying to think of an example that would help illuminate -- I mean, let’s take for instance -- I think everybody would say getting our policy right in Afghanistan is very important. I think that is of concern to many in this country.
When the President was undergoing 13 different two- to three-hour meetings on that, the notion that somehow that’s the only thing he was doing -- again, I can hardly wait for the day in which there’s only one problem, there’s only one meeting, it’s only on one topic. It’s not true today. The President is -- will come from the Situation Room, I think the schedule says he’s going to eat lunch, which he should do, and then he goes into an economic meeting.
So, again, that’s not to say -- it’s just hard for me to I guess craft into words exactly the fact that, again, he -- there are pressing problems domestically. The President obviously is the Commander-in-Chief and has to make decisions about our foreign policy. But, Peter, having been here from the beginning, there is not an issue or set of issues the President has spent more time on than dealing with the economic situation that we walked into the 20th of January 2009.
Q Has the President made any plans on how he’ll commemorate 9/11, and is a trip to Ground Zero a possibility?
MR. GIBBS: I do not have -- I have not looked at the block ahead. Let me go do that. I honestly don’t know the answer to that.
Q Is it -- I mean, are you looking at a number of places? He’ll stay here or go abroad?
MR. GIBBS: Let me go look at the block so I don’t -- so I have some information on that.
April.
Q Robert, on jobs, Gallup just came out with a poll on August underemployed numbers, said the numbers went up from 18.4 percent to 18.6 percent -- underemployed meaning those without full-time work. Is that included in what the President is trying to do to get people back to work? And talk to me about how.
MR. GIBBS: Look, I think, again, creating -- what you have seen happen in this economy is productivity has increased; what -- temporary work has increased, meaning employers have taken the steps of adding hours but not necessarily adding additional full-time workers. There are any number of people that, in the monthly employment survey, are included in -- would be included in a group of people that would like to work more if they could. That’s why you typically hear that -- that’s why, typically, on a day like tomorrow, you’ll hear an unemployment number and an underemployment number -- those that would like to have additional work but can’t find it.
Obviously those are just as much a focus as those that don’t have work and need it, because inherent in solving either of -- inherent in dealing with either of those two groups is greater full-time employment and that’s certainly what the President and the team are looking through.
Q And also, on this platform -- this production platform explosion, would you talk to me about how and why Justice is involved in this right now?
MR. GIBBS: Why Justice is involved?
Q I understand Justice is looking into this, they’re investigating this --
MR. GIBBS: April, I don’t have any information on that. The information I got was from the Coast Guard. So I will go back and see if there are -- if there’s Justice involvement in what’s happened today.
Q And is the administration concerned at all by the fact that Mariner Energy has links to BP when this whole situation happened?
MR. GIBBS: Again, I don’t want to make any broad statements on today’s -- on what I know about today’s incident when I came out here. Let me go back -- I think I said I’d go back and look and just get a better or fuller update throughout the day and see what’s going on.
Margaret.
Q Thanks, Robert. I wanted to return to the subject of the Mideast peace process and try to flesh out which calls the President has made, especially for Arab support, beyond obviously Egypt and Jordan. Specifically, has he been in contact with Saudi leaders, Kuwaitis, Moroccans, Qataris? Can you tell us who he’s talked to and what their feedback has been?
MR. GIBBS: I believe he has talked with King Abdullah recently. I don’t know the -- I can get the exact date of that and --
Q I think a readout on that would actually be really helpful.
MR. GIBBS: Let me -- what’s today? It would have happened earlier in the week, so let me --
Q Prior to everyone’s arrival?
MR. GIBBS: I think that -- if I’m not mistaken, on -- Monday was the 31st, right? They all sort of blur together. I believe that they spoke on Air Force One on Monday. But I will -- let me go see if there’s a readout of it.
Q Since his meetings yesterday, since his bilats yesterday, and in the course of today where presumably he will -- when he talks with George Mitchell and get a readback on what’s going on -- do you expect ongoing telephone calls to leaders --
MR. GIBBS: Let me do this. Let me get a better answer to that based on discussing with him after he’s had a chance to talk with Senator Mitchell. Look, obviously both Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell have been deeply, deeply involved in this, so let me include what their activity might be as well.
Yes, ma’am.
Q Thank you, Robert. Just to follow up on that, the Arab Peace Initiative, which Jordan’s King Abdullah mentioned last night, is an initiative that Saudi King Abdullah put together. Was he at all -- was he invited to attend these talks, or was he consulted beforehand?
MR. GIBBS: Yes, again, I believe they spoke Monday or Tuesday. I’m going to go -- let me go back and find -- and we will try to find a --
Q -- that would just be a day before the talks would take place --
MR. GIBBS: Let me get a better readout on exactly what was said and what might have transpired.
Q But you don’t know if he was invited to --
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know directly the answer to that but let me find out.
Yes, ma’am.
Q Thanks, Robert. Do you have any details about the dinner last night? The Israelis released that Prime Minister Netanyahu gave some gift of peace to the President.
MR. GIBBS: There was -- I don’t know how to describe it. I’ll go back and -- it was in the Oval, in the outer Oval last night, so I can go back and look at what that gift was.
Q Just a couple things. One, to clarify, you said -- this is a different track than Mara took -- you said that some big new stimulus plan is not in the offing, but the economic team is looking at a host of issues. That host of issues -- the exception is a big stimulus?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I think it’s just safe to characterize -- I’ll characterize it today the way I characterized it on Monday, and I think the way the President characterized it on Monday, and that is targeted ideas to continue to spur the recovery and create an environment for private sector hiring.
Q So something even resembling what we saw when you all first came to office is off the table?
MR. GIBBS: I have not been in a meeting where that’s been discussed.
Q And then the other thing I wanted to ask was, Bill mentioned the polling numbers in a nosedive, as he put it. Does the White House believe the President can arrest those numbers, or at least help?
MR. GIBBS: Look, I will say this. I think the President -- I’d go back to one of the answers I gave Bill, which is the unprecedented amount of effort and support that the DNC is providing to congressional candidates, to each of the Senate and congressional committees. Look, I don’t -- we saw this last year. This is -- I think the President will help make the case, but I don’t -- I do not anticipate that -- look, go back and look at polling from 2009 about -- in a lot of these races, there are issues that are not going to be decided either in support of or opposition to the President.
Bill.
Q Robert, for the last four days, Glenn Beck has criticized the President for believing in liberation theology, which he calls a Marxist form of Christianity. I’ve got two questions. One, does the President, to your knowledge, even know what liberation theology is?
MR. GIBBS: I don’t know the answer to that. I will say this, Bill, a crude paraphrasing of an old quote, and that is people are entitled to their own opinion, as ill-informed as it may be, but they’re not entitled to their own facts. The President is a committed mainstream Christian. I don’t -- I have no evidence that would guide me as to what Glenn Beck would have any genuine knowledge as to what the President does or does not believe.
Q When is he going back to church?
Q So this Marxist form of Christianity --
MR. GIBBS: Again, I can only imagine where Mr. Beck conjured that from.
Kirk.
Q Thanks, Robert. Would the President be pleased if on Election Day people say -- people base their vote on whether they’re better off -- if they’re better off on Election Day than when then-Senator Obama was elected?
MR. GIBBS: I think that’s one of the measures that people will generally use. I think that -- this may not be true for every person, obviously, but there are -- I think, Kirk, if you look at where our economy will likely be November the 2nd of 2010 and where it was that beautiful November day in 2008, they’re very different places. Again, we’ll do a little of the jobs numbers -- I don’t know the jobs numbers -- that’s why --
Q Do you know the jobs numbers? (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: I can’t tell you. I think I used this statistic earlier in the briefing, that we’ve created 600,000 private sector jobs in this year alone. To take your point of comparison, in the previous -- in the last six months of 2008, we lost 3 million jobs. So I think -- I don’t think there’s any doubt there’s been a change in that trajectory. I will say this, Kirk -- and I think I’ve said this on a number of answers today -- that is not satisfying to the President because obviously our economy has to grow more, we have to add more to the rolls of the employed and take them out of the rolls of the unemployed. And the President understands because he is among those that is frustrated that it is not happening as quickly as he would like it to, as he understands that the depth of the hole that we’re in is unlike anything we’ve faced in a long, long time.
Yes, sir.
Q One other thing, too. You’ve undoubtedly heard some commentators second-guess the choice of using the Oval as the forum, the venue, for the speech. Why was that chosen as opposed to giving the same sort of speech at Fort Bliss?
MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I obviously was involved in part of that decision. I think there are very few issues that if you look back to the spring of 2003 that have played a bigger role in our recent history than our -- than the war in Iraq. I think that is -- a tremendous number of men and women served in Iraq. A tremendous number were killed and have been injured as a result of their participation in that. I think the President believed that the milestone that we marked on Tuesday, the change in our mission away from a combat role and one to a role of assistance, should be marked in many of the same ways that President Bush marked it in announcing the beginning of combat.
And I will say this, if -- I read -- obviously read a number of stories. There was an AP story that quoted a number of soldiers that are happy that we have made a transition in a country where some of them served once, twice, three, four times. I think it was important that those that spent their time in Iraq -- some who left friends in Iraq -- deserved the national thanks of their Commander-in-Chief.
Q Sorry, one more. George Mitchell says there’s going to be another round of talks, the 14th and the 15th. Is the President going to play a role in that? Is he going to invite some of the principals back here?
MR. GIBBS: Let me double-check on the schedule.
Thanks, guys.
END
1:13 P.M. EDT
Presidential Memorandum-Continuation of Authorities Under the Trading With the Enemy Act
SUBJECT: Continuation of the Exercise of Certain Authorities Under the Trading With the Enemy Act
Under section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223 (91 Stat. 1625; 50 U.S.C. App. 5(b) note), and a previous determination on September 11, 2009 (74 FR 47431, September 16, 2009), the exercise of certain authorities under the Trading With the Enemy Act is scheduled to terminate on September 14, 2010.
I hereby determine that the continuation for 1 year of the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba is in the national interest of the United States.
Therefore, consistent with the authority vested in me by section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223, I continue for 1 year, until September 14, 2011, the exercise of those authorities with respect to Cuba, as implemented by the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515.
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
President Obama Signs North Carolina Disaster Declaration
The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of North Carolina and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local
response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Earl beginning on September 1, 2010, and continuing.
The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.
W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Michael Bolch as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-3272.
Remarks by President Obama, President Mubarak, His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas Before Working Dinner
7:05 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good evening, everyone. Tomorrow, after nearly two years, Israelis and Palestinians will resume direct talks in pursuit of a goal that we all share —- two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Tonight, I’m pleased to welcome to the White House key partners in this effort, along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the representative of our Quartet partners, former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
President Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Your Majesty King Abdullah, and President Mubarak —- we are but five men. Our dinner this evening will be a small gathering around a single table. Yet when we come together, we will not be alone. We’ll be joined by the generations —- those who have gone before and those who will follow.
Each of you are the heirs of peacemakers who dared greatly -— Begin and Sadat, Rabin and King Hussein -— statesmen who saw the world as it was but also imagined the world as it should be. It is the shoulders of our predecessors upon which we stand. It is their work that we carry on. Now, like each of them, we must ask, do we have the wisdom and the courage to walk the path of peace? All of us are leaders of our people, who, no matter the language they speak or the faith they practice, all basically seek the same things: to live in security, free from fear; to live in dignity, free from want; to provide for their families and to realize a better tomorrow. Tonight, they look to us, and each of us must decide, will we work diligently to fulfill their aspirations?
And though each of us holds a title of honor —- President, Prime Minister, King —- we are bound by the one title we share. We are fathers, blessed with sons and daughters. So we must ask ourselves what kind of world do we want to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren.
Tonight, and in the days and months ahead, these are the questions that we must answer. And this is a fitting moment to do so.For Muslims, this is Ramadan. For Jews, this is Elul. It is rare for those two months to coincide. But this year, tonight, they do. Different faiths, different rituals, but a shared period of devotion —- and contemplation. A time to reflect on right and wrong; a time to ponder one’s place in the world; a time when the people of two great religions remind the world of a truth that is both simple and profound, that each of us, all of us, in our hearts and in our lives, are capable of great and lasting change.
In this spirit, I welcome my partners. And I invite each to say a few words before we begin our meal, beginning with President Mubarak, on to His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas.
President Mubarak.
PRESIDENT MUBARAK: (As prepared for delivery.) I am pleased to participate with you today in relaunching direct peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. Like you, and the millions of Palestinians, Israelis, Arabs and the rest of the world, I look forward that these negotiations be final and decisive, and that they lead to a peace agreement within one year.
Our meet today would not have taken place without the considerable effort exerted by the American administration under the leadership of President Obama. I pay tribute to you, Mr. President, for your personal, serious commit and for your determination to work for a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine since the early days of your presidency. I appreciate your perseverance throughout the past period to overcome the difficulties facing the relaunching of the negotiations.
(Continued as translated.) I consider this invitation a manifestation of your commitment and a significant message that the United States will shepherd these negotiations seriously and at the highest level.
No one realizes the value of peace more than those who have known wars and their havoc. It was my destiny to witness over many events in our region during the years of war and peace. I have gone through wars and hostilities, and have participated in the quest for peace since the first day of my administration. I have never spared an effort to push it forward, and I still look forward to its success and completion.
The efforts to achieve peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis encountered many difficulties since the Madrid Conference in October 1999, and progress and regression, breakthroughs and setbacks, but the occupation of the Palestinian Territory remains an independent -- an independent Palestinian state is yet -- remains a dream in the conscious of the Palestinian people.There is no doubt that this situation should raise great frustration and anger among our people, for it is no longer acceptable or conceivable on the verge of the second decade of the third millennium that we fail to achieve just and true peace -- peace that would put an end to the century of conflict, fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, lift the occupation, allow for the establishment of normal relations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
It is true that reaching a just and comprehensive peace treaty between both sides has been an elusive hope for almost two decades. Yet the accumulated experience of both parties, the extended rounds of negotiations, and the previous understandings, particularly during the Clinton parameters of 2000, and subsequent understandings of Taba and with the previous Israeli government, all contributed in setting the outline of the final settlement.
This outline has become well known to the international community and to both peoples -- the Palestinian and Israeli people. Hence, it is expected that the current negotiations will not start from scratch or in void. No doubt, the position of the international community, as is stated in the consecutive statements of the Quartet, in particular, in its latest August 20th statement, paid due respect to relevant international resolutions and supported the outline of final settlements using different formulation without prejudice to the outcome of negotiations.
It has stressed that the aim of the soon-to-start direct negotiation is to reach a peaceful settlement that would end the Israeli occupation which began in 1967, allowing for the independent and sovereign state of Palestine to emerge and live side by side in peace and security with the state of Israel.
I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu many times since he took office last year. In our meetings, I listened to assertions on his willingness to achieve peace with the Palestinians, and for history to record his name for such an achievement. I say to him today that I look forward to achieving those assertions in reality, and his success in achieving the long-awaited peace, which I know the people of Israel yearn for, just like all other people in the region.Reaching just peace with the Palestinians will require from Israel taking important and decisive decisions -- decisions that are undoubtedly difficult yet they will be necessary to achieve peace and stability, and in a different context than the one that prevailed before.Settlement activities on the Palestinian Territory are contrary to international law. They will not create rights for Israel, nor are they going to achieve peace or security for Israel. It is, therefore, a priority to completely freeze all these activities until the entire negotiation process comes to a successful end.
I say to the Israelis, seize the current opportunity. Do not let it slip through your fingers. Make comprehensive peace your goal. Extend your hand to meet the hand already extended in the Arab Peace Initiative. I say to President Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt will continue its faithful support to the patient Palestinian people and their just cause. We will continue our concerted efforts to help fulfill the aspirations of your people and retrieve their legitimate rights. We will stand by you until the independent state of Palestine on the land occupied since 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital. We will also continue our efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation for the sake of the Palestinian national interest.
Once again, I’d like to express my thanks to President Obama, and I renew Egypt’s commitment to continue exerting all efforts, sharing honest advice and a commitment to the principles on which Arab and regional policy rests upon.
Please accept my appreciation, and peace be upon you. (Applause.)HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH: (As translated.) In the name of God most merciful, most compassionate, President Obama, peace be upon you.(In English.) For decades, a Palestinian-Israeli settlement has eluded us. Millions of men, women and children have suffered. Too many people have lost faith in our ability to bring them the peace they want. Radicals and terrorists have exploited frustrations to feed hatred and ignite wars. The whole world has been dragged into regional conflicts that cannot be addressed effectively until Arabs and Israelis find peace.
This past record drives the importance of our efforts today. There are those on both sides who want us to fail, who will do everything in their power to disrupt our efforts today -- because when the Palestinians and Israelis find peace, when young men and women can look to a future of promise and opportunity, radicals and extremists lose their most potent appeal. This is why we must prevail. For our failure would be their success in sinking the region into more instability and wars that will cause further suffering in our region and beyond.
President Obama, we value your commitment to the cause of peace in our region. We count on your continued engagement to help the parties move forward. You have said that Middle East peace is in the national security interest of your country. And we believe it is. And it is also a strategic European interest, and it is a necessary requirement for global security and stability. Peace is also a right for every citizen in our region.A Palestinian-Israeli settlement on the basis of two states living side by side is a precondition for security and stability of all countries of the Middle East, with a regional peace that will lead to normal relations between Israel and 57 Arab and Muslim states that have endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative. That would be -- well, that would also be an essential step towards neutralizing forces of evil and war that threaten all peoples.
Mr. President, we need your support as a mediator, honest broker, and a partner, as the parties move along the hard but inevitable path of settlements.
Your Excellencies, all eyes are upon us. The direct negotiations that will start tomorrow must show results -- and sooner rather than later. Time is not on our side. That is why we must spare no effort in addressing all final status issues with a view to reaching the two-state solution, the only solution that can create a future worthy of our great region -- a future of peace in which fathers and mothers can raise their children without fear, young people can look forward to lives of achievement and hope, and 300 million people can cooperate for mutual benefit.
For too long, too many people of the region have been denied their most basic of human rights: the right to live in peace and security; respected in their human dignity; enjoying freedom and opportunity. If hopes are disappointed again, the price of failure will be too high for all.
Our peoples want us to rise to their expectations. And we can do so if we approach these negotiations with goodwill, sincerity and courage. (Applause.)
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Mr. President, Excellencies, Shalom Aleichem. Shalom Alkulanu. Peace unto us all.
I’m very pleased to be here today to begin our common effort to achieve a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
I want to thank you, President Obama, for your tireless efforts to renew this quest for peace. I want to thank Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Mitchell, the many members of the Obama administration, and Tony Blair, who’ve all worked so hard to bring Israelis and Palestinians together here today.
I also want to thank President Mubarak and King Abdullah for their dedicated and meaningful support to promote peace, security, and stability throughout our region. I deeply appreciate your presence here today.
I began with a Hebrew word for peace, “shalom.” Our goal is shalom. Our goal is to forge a secure and durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians. We don’t seek a brief interlude between two wars. We don’t seek a temporary respite between outbursts of terror. We seek a peace that will end the conflict between us once and for all. We seek a peace that will last for generations -- our generation, our children’s generation, and the next.
This is the peace my people fervently want. This is the peace all our peoples fervently aspire to. This is the peace they deserve.
Now, a lasting peace is a peace between peoples -- between Israelis and Palestinians. We must learn to live together, to live next to one another and with one another. But every peace begins with leaders.
President Abbas, you are my partner in peace. And it is up to us, with the help of our friends, to conclude the agonizing conflict between our peoples and to afford them a new beginning. The Jewish people are not strangers in our ancestral homeland, the land of our forefathers. But we recognize that another people shares this land with us.I came here today to find an historic compromise that will enable both our peoples to live in peace and security and in dignity. I’ve been making the case for Israel all of my life. But I didn’t come here today to make an argument. I came here today to make peace. I didn’t come here today to play a blame game where even the winners lose. Everybody loses if there’s no peace. I came here to achieve a peace that will bring a lasting benefit to us all.I didn’t come here to find excuses or to make them. I came here to find solutions. I know the history of our conflict and the sacrifices that have been made. I know the grief that has afflicted so many families who have lost their dearest loved ones. Only yesterday four Israelis, including a pregnant women -- a pregnant woman -- and another woman, a mother of six children, were brutally murdered by savage terrorists. And two hours ago, there was another terror attack. And thank God no one died. I will not let the terrorists block our path to peace, but as these events underscore once again, that peace must be anchored in security. I’m prepared to walk down the path of peace, because I know what peace would mean for our children and for our grandchildren. I know it would herald a new beginning that could unleash unprecedented opportunities for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for the peoples -- all the peoples -- of our region, and well beyond our region. I think it would affect the world.
I see what a period of calm has created in the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, of Janin, throughout the West Bank, a great economic boom. And real peace can turn this boom into a permanent era of progress and hope.
If we work together, we can take advantage of the great benefits afforded by our unique place under the sun. We’re the crossroads of three continents, at the crossroads of history, and the crossroads of the future. Our geography, our history, our culture, our climate, the talents of our people can be unleashed to create extraordinary opportunities in tourism, in trade, in industry, in energy, in water, in so many areas. But peace must also be defended against its enemies. We want the skyline of the West Bank to be dominated by apartment towers -- not missiles. We want the roads of the West Bank to flow with commerce -- not terrorists.
And this is not a theoretic request for our people. We left Lebanon, and we got terror. We left Gaza, and we got terror once again. We want to ensure that territory we’ll concede will not be turned into a third Iranian-sponsored terror enclave armed at the heart of Israel -- and may I add, also aimed at every one of us sitting on this stage.
This is why a defensible peace requires security arrangements that can withstand the test of time and the many challenges that are sure to confront us. And there will be many challenges, both great and small. Let us not get bogged down by every difference between us. Let us direct our courage, our thinking, and our decisions at those historic decisions that lie ahead.
Now, there are many skeptics. One thing there’s no shortage of, Mr. President, are skeptics. This is something that you’re so familiar with, that all of us in a position of leadership are familiar with. There are many skeptics. I suppose there are many reasons for skepticism. But I have no doubt that peace is possible.
President Abbas, we cannot erase the past, but it is within our power to change the future. Thousands of years ago, on these very hills where Israelis and Palestinians live today, the Jewish prophet Isaiah and the other prophets of my people envisaged a future of lasting peace for all mankind. Let today be an auspicious step in our joint effort to realize that ancient vision for a better future. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT ABBAS: (As translated.) His Excellency President Barack Obama, His Excellency President Hosni Mubarak, His Majesty King Abdullah II, His Excellency Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Mr. Tony Blair, ladies and gentlemen.I would like to start by thanking President Obama for his invitation to host us here today to relaunch the permanent status negotiations to reach a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement covering all the permanent status issues within a year in accordance with international law and relevant resolutions. As we move towards the relaunch of these negotiations tomorrow, we recognize the difficulties, challenges and obstacles that lie ahead. Yet we assure you, in the name of the PLO, that we will draw on years of experience in negotiations and benefit from the lessons learned to make these negotiations successful.
We also reiterate our commitment to carry out all our obligations, and we call on the Israelis to carry out their obligations, including a freeze on settlements activities, which is not setting a precondition but a call to implement an agreed obligation and to end all the closure and blockade, preventing freedom of movement, including the (inaudible) siege.
We will spare no effort and will work diligently and tirelessly to ensure that these new negotiations achieve their goals and objectives in dealing with all of the issues: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, border security, water, as well as the release of all our prisoners -- in order to achieve peace. The people of our area are looking for peace that achieves freedom, independence, and justice to the Palestinian people in their country and in their homeland and in the diaspora -- our people who have endured decades of longstanding suffering.
We want a peace that will correct the historical injustice caused by the (inaudible) of 1948, and one that brings security to our people and the Israeli people. And we want peace that will give us both and the people of the region a new era where we enjoy just peace, stability, and prosperity. Our determination stems to a great extent from your willpower, Mr. President, and your firm and sweeping drive with which you engulfed the entire world from the day you took office to set the parties on the path for peace -- and also this same spirit, exhibited by Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator George Mitchell and his team. The presence of His Excellency President Mubarak and His Majesty King Abdullah is another telling indication of their substantial and effective commitment overall, where Egypt and Jordan have been playing a supportive role for advancing the peace process. Their effective role is further demonstrated by the Arab Peace Initiative, which was fully endorsed by all of the Arab states, and the Islamic countries as well.
This initiative served a genuine and sincere opportunity to achieve a just and comprehensive peace on all tracks in our region, including the Syrian-Israeli track and the Lebanese-Israeli track, and provided a sincere opportunity to make peace.
The presence here today of the envoy of the Quartet, Mr. Tony Blair, is a most telling signal, especially since he has been personally involved in the Palestinian Authority for many years and in the efforts for state building in Palestine.
Excellencies, the time has come for us to make peace and it is time to end the occupation that started in 1967, and for the Palestinian people to get freedom, justice, and independence. It is time that a independent Palestinian state be established with sovereignty side by side with the state of Israel. It is time to put an end to the struggle in the Middle East. The Palestinian people who insist on the rights and freedom and independence are in most need for justice, security, and peace, because they are the victim, the ones that were harmed the most from this violence. And it is sending message to our neighbors, the Israelis, and to the world that they are also careful about supporting the opportunities for the success of these negotiations and the just and lasting peace as soon as possible.
With this spirit, we will work to make these negotiations succeed. And with this spirit, we are -- trust that we are capable to achieve our historical, difficult mission -- making peace in the land of peace.
Mr. Netanyahu, what happened yesterday and what is happening today is also condemned. We do not want at all that any blood be shed, one drop of blood, on the part of the -- from the Israelis or the Palestinians. We want people in the two countries to lead a normal life. We want them to live as neighbors and partners forever. Let us sign an agreement, a final agreement, for peace, and put an end to a very long period of struggle forever.And peace be upon you. (Applause.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I want to thank all the leaders for their thoughtful statements. I want to thank the delegations that are represented here because they are the ones who oftentimes are doing a lot of the work. This is just the beginning. We have a long road ahead, but I appreciate very much the leaders who are represented here for giving us such an excellent start. And I particularly want to commend Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas for their presence here. This is not easy. Both of them have constituencies with legitimate claims, legitimate concerns, and a lot of history between them. For them to be here, to be willing to take this first step -- the most difficult step -- is a testament to their courage and their integrity and I think their vision for the future.And so I am hopeful -- cautiously hopeful, but hopeful -- that we can achieve the goal that all four of these leaders articulated. Thank you very much, everybody.
END 7:41 P.M. EDT
Read a translation: Arabic | Hebrew
Readout of President Obama's Meeting with President Mubarak of Egypt
President Obama and President Mubarak met today and reaffirmed the strong ties between Egypt and the United States of America.
The leaders stated their strong support for the resumption of direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and President Obama thanked President Mubarak for his leadership and support for peace in the region. They expressed their hope that the resumption of direct talks will lead to two states living side-by-side in peace and security.
President Obama and President Mubarak consulted on the details of the launch event for direct talks at the Department of State scheduled for tomorrow. The President committed to staying in close contact with President Mubarak as the talks develop, and made clear that Egypt’s leadership will be needed to ensure that the talks are successful.
The leaders also discussed various regional issues of mutual interest, and President Obama reaffirmed the importance of a vibrant civil society, open political competition, and credible and transparent elections in Egypt. The President welcomes commitments Egypt has made as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review.
Presidential Proclamation--National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
One of the greatest responsibilities we have as a Nation is to safeguard the health and well-being of our children. We now face a national childhood obesity crisis, with nearly one in every three of America's children being overweight or obese. There are concrete steps we can take right away as concerned parents, caregivers, educators, loved ones, and a Nation to ensure that our children are able to live full and active lives. During National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, I urge all Americans to take action to meet our national goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.
Childhood obesity has been a growing problem for decades. While it has afflicted children across our country, certain Americans have been disproportionately affected. Particular racial and ethnic groups are more severely impacted, as are certain regions of the country. In addition, obesity can be influenced by a number of environmental and behavioral factors, including unhealthy eating patterns and too little physical activity at home and at school.
We must do more to halt and reverse this epidemic, as obesity can lead to severe and chronic health problems during childhood, adolescence and adulthood, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and asthma. Not only does excess weight adversely affect our children's well-being, but its associated health risks also impose great costs on families, our health care system, and our economy. Each year, nearly $150 billion are spent to treat obesity-related medical conditions. This is not the future to which we want to consign our children, and it is a burden our health care system cannot bear.
Earlier this year, the First Lady announced "Let's Move!" an initiative to combat childhood obesity at every stage of a child's life. As President, I created a Task Force on Childhood Obesity to marshal the combined resources of the Federal Government to develop interagency solutions and make recommendations on how to respond to this crisis. The Task Force produced a report containing a comprehensive set of recommendations that will put our country on track for solving this pressing health issue and preventing it from threatening future generations.
The report outlines broad strategies to address childhood obesity, including providing healthier food in schools, ensuring access to healthy affordable food, increasing opportunities for physical activity, empowering parents and caregivers with better information about making healthy choices, and giving children a healthy start in life. I invite all Americans to visit LetsMove.gov to learn more about these recommendations and find additional information and resources on how to help children eat healthy and stay active.
The new landmark health care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), includes a number of important tools for fighting and reversing the rise of childhood obesity. All new health insurance plans will be required to cover both screenings for childhood obesity and counseling on nutrition and sustained weight loss, without charging any out of pocket costs. The ACA also requires large restaurant and vending machine operators to provide visible nutritional information about the products they sell, enabling all Americans to make more informed choices about the foods they eat. As part of my Administration's comprehensive approach to combating this epidemic, the ACA includes millions in new funds to implement prevention activities nationwide that support recommendations of the Task Force on Childhood Obesity.
Our history shows that when we are united in our convictions, we can safeguard the health and safety of America's children for generations to come. When waves of American children were stricken with polio and disabled for life, we developed a nationwide immunization program that eradicated this crippling disease from our shores within a matter of decades. When we discovered that children were going to school hungry because their families could not afford nutritious meals, we created the National School Lunch Program. Today, this program feeds more than 30 million American children, often at little or no charge. When we work together, we can overcome any obstacle and protect our Nation's most precious resource -- our children. As we take steps to turn around the epidemic of childhood obesity, I am confident that we will solve this problem together, and that we will solve it in a generation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2010 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. I encourage all Americans to take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all of our Nation's children.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA
Remarks by the President in the Rose Garden after Bilateral Meetings
WITH PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU OF ISRAEL,
PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY,
HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN,
AND PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK OF EGYPT
Rose Garden
5:27 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody.
Upon taking office, I declared that America is a friend of each nation and every person who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that the United States was ready to lead in pursuit of that future. At the beginning of my administration, I stated that it was our policy to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as a comprehensive peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors. And to support my outstanding Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s leadership, I appointed a special envoy and one of our nation’s finest statesmen, former Senator George Mitchell, to guide our efforts.
As I’ve said many times, our goal is a two-state solution that ends the conflict and ensures the rights and security of both Israelis and Palestinians. And despite the inevitable challenges, we have never wavered in pursuit of this goal. I’ve met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on numerous occasions. Between them, Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell have made countless trips to the region.
Over the past year, both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority have taken important steps to build confidence. And with Senator Mitchell’s support, Israelis and Palestinians have engaged in several rounds of proximity talks -— even in the face of difficult circumstances. But we’ve always made it clear that the only path to lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Tomorrow, after nearly two years, the parties will relaunch those direct talks.
Today, I had a series of very productive meetings with key partners in this effort. I urged Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas to recognize this as a moment of opportunity that must be seized. I thanked President Mubarak of Egypt and His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan, for their valuable leadership and for the support that will be necessary going forward. And I look forward to hosting these four leaders at a private working dinner at the White House tonight.
I also want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to many friends and allies, especially our Quartet partners. And former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be joining us as representing the Quartet at the dinner this evening.
The purpose of these talks is clear. These will be direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. These negotiations are intended to resolve all final status issues. The goal is a settlement, negotiated between the parties, that ends the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security with a Jewish state of Israel and its other neighbors. That’s the vision we are pursuing.
Now, I know these talks have been greeted in some quarters with skepticism. We are under no illusions. Passions run deep. Each side has legitimate and enduring interests. Years of mistrust will not disappear overnight. Building confidence will require painstaking diplomacy and trust by the parties. After all, there’s a reason that the two-state solution has eluded previous generations —- this is extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily difficult.
But we know that the status quo is unsustainable -- for Israelis, for Palestinians, for the region and for the world. It is in the national interests of all involved, including the United States, that this conflict be brought to a peaceful conclusion.
So even as we are clear-eyed about the challenges ahead, so, too, do we see the foundation for progress. The Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority are already cooperating on a daily basis to increase security and reduce violence, to build institutions and improve conditions on the ground.
Among the Israeli and Palestinian publics, there is wide support for a two-state solution, the broad outlines of which are well known to both peoples. And even in the midst of discord, ordinary Israelis and Palestinians -— faith leaders, civil society groups, doctors, scientists, businessmen, students -- find ways to work together every day. Their heroic efforts at the grassroots show that cooperation and progress is possible and should inspire us all.
In addition, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas are two leaders who I believe want peace. Both sides have indicated that these negotiations can be completed within one year. And as I told each of them today, this moment of opportunity may not soon come again -— they cannot afford to let it slip away. Now is the time for leaders of courage and vision to deliver the peace that their people deserve.
The United States will put our full weight behind this effort. We will be an active and sustained participant. We will support those who make difficult choices in pursuit of peace. But let me very clear. Ultimately the United States cannot impose a solution, and we cannot want it more than the parties themselves. There are enormous risks involved here for all the parties concerned, but we cannot do it for them. We can create the environment and the atmosphere for negotiations, but ultimately it’s going to require the leadership on both the Palestinian and the Israeli sides, as well as those in the region who say they want a Palestinian state.
A lot of times I hear from those who insist that this is a top priority and yet do very little to actually support efforts that could bring about a Palestinian state.
So only Israelis and Palestinians can make the difficult choices and build the consensus at home for progress. Only Israelis and Palestinians can prove to each other their readiness to end this conflict and make the compromises upon which lasting peace deserves.
What the rest of us can do, including the United States, is to support those conversations, support those talks, support those efforts -- not try to undermine them.
So the hard work is only beginning. Neither success nor failure is inevitable. But this much we know: If we do not make the attempt, then failure is guaranteed. If both sides do not commit to these talks in earnest, then the longstanding conflict will only continue to fester and consume another generation. And this we simply cannot allow.
We know that there will be moments that test our resolve. We know that extremists and enemies of peace will do everything in their power to destroy this effort —- as we saw in the heinous attacks near Hebron, which we have strongly condemned. But we also know this: Too much blood has already been shed. Too many lives have already been lost. Too many hearts have already been broken.
And despite what the cynics say, history teaches us that there is a different path. It is the path of resolve and determination, where compromise is possible, and old conflicts, at long last, can end. It is the path traveled by those who brought peace to their countries, from Northern Ireland -- where Senator Mitchell was so deeply involved -- to the Balkans, to Africa, Asia, to those who forged peace between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Jordan.
This path is open to Israelis and Palestinians. If all sides persevere, in good faith and with a sense of purpose and possibility, we can build a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
Thank you very much.
END
5:35 P.M. EDT
Read a translation: Arabic | Hebrew
Readout of President Obama's Meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan
President Obama and King Abdullah met today and reaffirmed the strong relationship between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the United States of America.
President Obama thanked King Abdullah for his leadership and support for peace in the region, and both leaders stated their strong support for the resumption of direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and for comprehensive peace in the region. They expressed their hope that the resumption of direct negotiations will lead to two states living side-by-side in peace and security.
President Obama and King Abdullah consulted on the details of the launch event for direct talks at the Department of State scheduled for tomorrow. The President made clear that Jordan’s leadership will be needed to ensure that the talks are successful, and reassured King Abdullah that the United States believes that the only way to achieve peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is through direct negotiations.
The leaders also discussed regional and bilateral issues, and committed to seeking ways to strengthen the partnership between the United States and Jordan.
