Hello! Good to see everybody.
Please, have a seat. Have a seat. (Applause.) Good
morning. I want to thank all of you for coming.
I want to thank my outstanding Vice
President, Joe Biden -- (applause) -- who is here today, and members of my
administration for joining us. But most of all, I want to thank the men
and women who are standing with me today, as well as all the Americans who made
their voices heard during the debate about extending the payroll tax cut and
unemployment insurance.
We
are here because of you. This got done because of you; because you
called, you emailed, you tweeted your representatives and you demanded
action. You made it clear that you wanted to see some common sense in
Washington. And because you did, no working American is going to see
their taxes go up this year. That's good news. (Applause.)
Because of what you did, millions of Americans who are out there still looking
for work are going to continue to get help with unemployment insurance.
That's because of you. I called on -- (applause) -- that's worth
applauding as well. (Applause.)
You'll
remember I called on Congress to pass this middle-class tax cut back in
September as part of my broader jobs plan. And for the typical American family,
it is a big deal. It means $40 extra in their paycheck. And that
$40 helps to pay the rent, the groceries, the rising cost of gas -- which is on
a lot of people's minds right now. LaRonda Hill -- right here -- told us
how $40 covers the water bill for a month. So this tax cut makes a
difference for a lot of families. You can get back over here, Joe.
(Laughter.) And more people spending more money means more businesses
will be able to hire more workers, and the entire economy gets another boost
just as the recovery is starting to gain some steam.
So
Congress did the right thing here. They listened to the voices of the
American people. Each side made a few compromises. We passed some
important reforms to help turn unemployment insurance into reemployment
insurance, so that more people get training and the skills they need to get
back in a job. We passed an initiative that will create jobs by expanding
wireless broadband and ensuring that first responders have access to the latest
lifesaving technologies. And we've got some first responders here.
We're very grateful for the work that they do. (Applause.)
So,
in the end, everyone acted in the interests of the middle class, and people who
are striving to get into the middle class through hard work. And that's
how it should be. That's what Americans expect, and that's what Americans
deserve.
Now
my message to Congress is: Don't stop here. Keep
going. (Applause.) Keep taking the action that people are calling
for to keep this economy growing. This may be an election year, but the
American people have no patience for gridlock and just a reflexive
partisanship, and just paying attention to poll numbers and the next election
instead of the next generation and what we can do to strengthen opportunity for
all Americans. Americans don't have the luxury to put off tough
decisions. And neither should we. There's a lot more we can do -- and
there's plenty of time to do it -- if we want to build an economy where every
American has a chance to find a good job that pays well and supports a
family.
For
example, Congress needs to pass my plan to help responsible homeowners save
about $3,000 a year by refinancing their homes, their mortgages, at
historically low rates. (Applause.) We're doing what we can
administratively to provide some Americans that opportunity. I want all
Americans to have that opportunity. And we need Congress to act to do it.
Congress
needs to step up and support America's small businesses, and especially
companies that want to export. It's time we stop rewarding businesses
that send jobs overseas, start rewarding companies right here that want to
create jobs in the United States and sell to other countries as opposed to
exporting jobs to other countries. That's what we need to do.
Congress can act on that. (Applause.)
Congress
needs to make the Buffett Rule a reality. This is common sense.
(Applause.) If you make more than a million dollars a year -- make more
than a million dollars a year -- you should pay a tax rate of at least 30
percent. (Applause.) And if you do that, that means that if you
make less than $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of Americans do, you shouldn't
see your taxes go up. And we won't be adding to the deficit.
These
are things we can do today. It shouldn't be that difficult. Now,
whenever Congress refuses to act, Joe and I, we're going to act.
(Applause.) In the months to come, wherever we have an opportunity, we're
going to take steps on our own to keep this economy moving. Because we've
got a choice right now. We can either settle for a country where a few people
are doing very well and everybody else is having to just struggle to get by, or
we can build an economy where everybody gets a fair shot, and everybody is
doing their fair share, and everybody is taking responsibility, and everybody is
playing by the same set of rules. And that's the economy that I
want. (Applause.)
We
still have some struggles out there. We're coming out of the worst
economic crisis in our lifetimes. We've got a long way to go before every
single person who's looking for a job can find a job. But where we stand
now looks a lot different than where we stood a few years ago. Over the
last 23 months, businesses have created 3.7 million new jobs.
Manufacturers are hiring for the first time since the 1990s. The auto
industry is back on top. Our recovery is gaining steam. Our economy
is getting stronger. So we're headed in the right direction. And
the last thing we should do is turn around and go back to the policies that
weren't working in the first place.
That's
why it's so important for us to stay focused and Congress to continue to do the
things that the American people want to see done in order to improve the
economy. We've got to build an economy that is built on American
manufacturing and American-made energy, and is improving the skills and
capacity of American workers. We've got to make sure that when we think
about energy, that we're fueling America by homegrown and alternative energy
sources that make us more secure and less dependent on foreign oil. When
we think about skills for American workers, we got to make sure that everybody
has the opportunity not only for four-year colleges, but also two-year
colleges, the community colleges that Dr. Jill Biden is doing such a great job
promoting all across the country.
We've
put forward plans on each of these areas that can make a huge difference.
But most of all, we've got to have a return to some homespun American
values: hard work, fair play, shared responsibility. That's who we
are as a people.
And
the reason I'm so confident in our future is because of the folks who are
standing with me today, some of the folks who are in the audience, because of
all the families and workers and small business owners and students and seniors
that I've met over the last few weeks and that I've met during the course of my
political career. When times are tough, Americans don't give up. They
push ahead. They do whatever it takes to make their lives better, their communities
better and their countries better.
And
with or without Congress, every day I'm going to be continuing to fight for
them. I do hope Congress joins me. Instead of spending the coming
months in a lot of phony political debates, focusing on the next election, I
hope that we spend some time focusing on middle-class Americans and those who
are struggling to get into the middle class. We've got a lot more
work to do. Let's do it.
Thank you very much,
everybody. Thanks for the great job you did. Appreciate you, proud
of you. Thank you.
