Obama: 04-15-09 Remarks on the Economy at Georgetown University

from White House News

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secrectary
____________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                                April 14, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON THE ECONOMY
Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.

11:43 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. (Applause.) It’s good to be back. Thank you so much. Please, everybody be seated. (Applause.) Well, to President DeGioia, thank you so much for the gracious introduction, and thanks for bringing your family — including JT — appreciate you. We’re going to invite him over, hang out with the girls. (Laughter.) He’s a pretty good-looking young man. (Laughter.)

To Mayor Adrian Fenty, who’s doing such a great job in this city, thank you so much for your attendance. (Applause.) To Representative Donna Edwards, who is here and represents Maryland’s 4th District, thank you. (Applause.)

To Georgetown University students, it is great to be here. (Applause.) Well, it is good to be back. I appeared in this room during the campaign and had a wonderful reception then, and it’s wonderful to be back and be with all of you.

We’re going to talk about the economy today. And I was telling President DeGioia this may be a slightly longer speech than I usually give, but it’s a slightly bigger topic, and that is how we are going to deal with so many of our economic challenges.

You know, it’s been 12 weeks now since my administration began. And I think that even our critics would agree that at the very least, we’ve been busy. (Laughter.) In just under three months, we’ve responded to an extraordinary set of economic challenges with extraordinary action — action that’s been unprecedented both in terms of its scale and its speed.

And I know that some have accused us of taking on too much at once. Others believe we haven’t done enough. And many Americans are simply wondering how all of our different programs and policies fit together in a single, overarching strategy that will move this economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity.

So today, I want to step back for a moment and explain our strategy as clearly as I can. This is going to be prose, and not poetry. I want to talk about what we’ve done, why we’ve done it, and what we have left to do. I want to update you on the progress we’ve made, but I also want to be honest about the pitfalls that may still lie ahead.

Most of all, I want every American to know that each action we take and each policy we pursue is driven by a larger vision of America’s future — a future where sustained economic growth creates good jobs and rising incomes; a future where prosperity is fueled not by excessive debt, or reckless speculation, or fleeting profits, but is instead built by skilled, productive workers, by sound investments that will spread opportunity at home and allow this nation to lead the world in the technologies and the innovation and discoveries that will shape the 21st century. That’s the America I see. That’s the America that Georgetown is preparing so many of you for. That is the future that I know that we can have.

Now, to understand how we get there, we first need to understand how we got here.

Recessions are not uncommon. Markets and economies naturally ebb and flow, as we’ve seen many times in our history. But this recession is different. This recession was not caused by a normal downturn in the business cycle. It was caused by a perfect storm of irresponsibility and poor decision-making that stretched from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street.

As has been widely reported, it started in the housing market. During the course of the decade, the formula for buying a house changed: Instead of saving their pennies to buy their dream house, many Americans found that suddenly they could take out loans that by traditional standards their incomes just could not support. Others were tricked into signing these subprime loans by lenders who were trying to make a quick profit. The reason these loans were so readily available was that Wall Street saw big profits to be made. Investment banks would buy and package together these questionable mortgages into securities, arguing that by pooling the mortgages the risks had somehow been reduced. And credit agencies that are supposed to help investors determine the soundness of various investments stamped the securities with their safest rating when they should have been labeled “Buyer Beware.”

No one really knew what the actual value of these securities were, no one fully understood what the risks were. But since the housing market was booming and prices were rising, banks and investors just kept buying and selling them, always passing off the risk to someone else for a greater profit without having to take any of the ultimate responsibility. Banks took on more debt than they could handle.

The government-chartered companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose traditional mandate was to help support traditional mortgages, decided to get in on the action by buying and holding billions of dollars of these securities. AIG, the biggest insurer in the world that had a very traditional insurance business that was very profitable, decided to make profits suddenly by selling billions of dollars of complicated financial instruments that supposedly insured these securities. Everybody was making record profits — except the wealth created was real only on paper. And as the bubble grew, there was almost no accountability or oversight from anyone in Washington.

Then the housing bubble burst. Home prices fell. People began to default on their subprime mortgages. And the value of all those loans and securities plummeted. Banks and investors couldn’t find anyone to buy them. Greed gave way to fear. Investors pulled their money out of the market. Large financial institutions that didn’t have enough money on hand to pay off all their obligations collapsed. Other banks held on tight to their money and simply stopped lending.

Now, this is when the crisis spread from Wall Street to Main Street. After all, the ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to, as you all know very well, a college education. It’s how stores stock their shelves, and farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll. So when banks stopped lending money, businesses started laying off workers. When laid-off workers had less money to spend, businesses were forced to lay off even more workers. When people couldn’t get a car loan, a bad situation at the auto companies became even worse. When people couldn’t get home loans, the crisis in the housing market only deepened. Because the infected securities were being traded worldwide and other nations also had weak regulations, this recession soon became global. And when other nations can’t afford to buy our goods, it slows our economy even further.

So this is the situation, the downward spiral that we confronted on the day that we took office. So our most urgent task has been to clear away the wreckage, repair the immediate damage to the economy, and do everything we can to prevent a larger collapse. And since the problems we face are all working off each other to feed a vicious economic downturn, we’ve had no choice but to attack all fronts of our economic crisis simultaneously.

The first step was to fight a severe shortage of demand in the economy. So the Federal Reserve did this by dramatically lowering interest rates last year in order to boost investment. My administration and Congress boosted demand by passing the largest recovery plan in our nation’s history. It’s a plan that’s already in the process of saving or creating 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. It’s putting money directly into people’s pockets with a tax cut for 95 percent of working families that’s now showing up in paychecks across America. And to cushion the blow of this recession, we also provided extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to Americans who’ve lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

Now, you will recall that some argued this recovery plan is a case of irresponsible government spending, that it’s somehow to blame for our long-term deficit projections, and that the federal government should be cutting instead of increasing spending right now. So I want to tackle this argument head on.

To begin with, economists on both the left and the right agree that the last thing a government should do in the middle of a recession is to cut back on spending. You see, when this recession began, many families sat around the kitchen table and tried to figure out where they could cut back. And so have many businesses. And this is a completely reasonable and understandable reaction. But if everybody — if everybody — if every family in America, if every business in America cuts back all at once, then no one is spending any money, which means there are no customers, which means there are more layoffs, which means the economy gets even worse. That’s why the government has to step in and temporarily boost spending in order to stimulate demand. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now.

Second, I absolutely agree that our long-term deficit is a major problem that we have to fix. But the fact is that this recovery plan represents only a tiny fraction of that long-term deficit. As I’ll discuss in a moment, the key to dealing with our long-term deficit and our national debt is to get a handle on out-of-control health care costs — not to stand idly by as the economy goes into free fall.

So the recovery plan has been the first step in confronting this economic crisis. The second step has been to heal our financial system so that credit is once again flowing to the businesses and families who rely on it.

The heart of this financial crisis is that too many banks and other financial institutions simply stopped lending money. In a climate of fear, banks were unable to replace their losses from some of those bad mortgages by raising new capital on their own, and they were unwilling to lend the money they did have because they were afraid that no one would pay it back. It’s for this reason that the last administration used what they called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to provide these banks with temporary financial assistance in order to get them lending again.

Now, I understand that TARP is not popular, and I have to say that I don’t agree with some of the ways the TARP program was managed, but I do agree with the broader rationale that we must provide banks with the capital and the confidence necessary to start lending again. That’s the purpose of the stress tests that will soon tell us how much additional capital will be needed to support lending at our largest banks. Ideally, these needs will be met by private investors who are willing to put in money to these banks. But where that’s not possible, and banks require substantial additional resources from the government, then we will hold accountable those who are responsible, we’ll force the necessary adjustments, we’ll provide the support to clean up those bank balance sheets, and we will assure the continuity of a strong and viable institution that can serve our people and our economy.

Of course, there are some who differ with our approach. On the one hand, there are some who argue that the government should stand back and simply let these banks fail — especially since in many cases it was their bad decisions that helped create the crisis in the first place. But whether we like it or not, history has shown repeatedly that when nations do not take early and aggressive action to get credit flowing again, they have crises that last years and years instead of months and months — years of low growth, years of low job creation, years of low investment, all of which cost these nations far more than a course of bold, upfront action.

And although there are a lot of Americans who understandably think that government money would be better spent going directly to families and businesses instead of to banks — one of my most frequent questions in the letters that I get from constituents is, “Where’s my bailout?” — and I understand the sentiment. It makes sense intuitively, and morally it makes sense, but the truth is that a dollar of capital in a bank can actually result in $8 or $10 of loans to families and businesses. So that’s a multiplier effect that can ultimately lead to a faster pace of economic growth. That’s why we have to fix the banks.

Now, on the other hand, there have been some who don’t dispute that we need to shore up the banking system, but they suggest that we’ve been too timid in how we go about it. This is essentially the nationalization argument that some of you may have heard. And the argument says that the federal government should have already preemptively stepped in and taken over major financial institutions the way that the FDIC currently intervenes in smaller banks, and that our failure, my administration’s failure to do so is yet another example of Washington coddling Wall Street — “Why aren’t you tougher on the banks?”

So let me be clear: The reason we have not taken this step has nothing to do with any ideological or political judgment we’ve made about government involvement in banks. It’s certainly not because of any concern we have for the management and shareholders whose actions helped to cause this mess. Rather, it’s because we believe that preemptive government takeovers are likely to end up costing taxpayers even more in the end, and because it’s more likely to undermine than create confidence.

Governments should practice the same principle as doctors: First, do no harm. So rest assured — we will do whatever is necessary to get credit flowing again, but we will do so in ways that minimize risks to taxpayers and to the broader economy. To that end, in addition to the program to provide capital to the banks, we’ve launched a plan that will pair government resources with private investment in order to clear away the old loans and securities — the so-called toxic assets — that are also preventing our banks from lending money.

Now, what we’ve also learned during this crisis is that our banks aren’t the only institutions affected by these toxic assets that are clogging the financial system. AIG, for example, is not a bank, it’s an insurance company, as I mentioned — and yet because it chose to insure billions of dollars worth of risky assets, essentially creating a hedge fund on top of an insurance company, its failure could threaten the entire financial system and freeze lending even more. And that’s why, as frustrating as it is — and I promise you, nobody is more frustrated than me with AIG — (laughter) — I promise — we had to provide support for AIG, because the entire system, as fragile as it is, could be profoundly endangered if AIG went into a liquidation bankruptcy.

It’s also why we need new legal authority so that we have the power to intervene in such financial institutions, the same way that bankruptcy courts currently do with businesses that hit hard times but don’t pose systemic risks — and that way we can restructure these businesses in an orderly way that doesn’t induce panic in the financial system — and, by the way, will allow us to restructure inappropriate bonus contracts without creating a perception the government can just change compensation rules on a whim.

This is also why we’re moving aggressively to unfreeze markets and jumpstart lending outside the banking system, where more than half of all lending in America actually takes place. To do this, we’ve started a program that will increase guarantees for small business loans and unlock the market for auto loans and student loans. And to stabilize the housing market, we’ve launched a plan that will save up to four million responsible homeowners from foreclosure and help many millions more to refinance their homes.

In a few weeks, we will also reassess the state of Chrysler and General Motors, two companies with an important place in our history and a large footprint in our economy — but two companies that have also fallen on hard times.

Late last year, the companies were given transitional loans by the previous administration to tide them over as they worked to develop viable business plans. Unfortunately, the plans they developed fell short, so we’ve given them some additional time to work these complex issues through. And by the way, we owed that not to the executives whose bad bets contributed to the weakening of their companies, but to the hundreds of thousands of workers whose livelihoods hang in the balance — entire towns, entire communities, entire states are profoundly impacted by what happens in the auto industry.

Now, it is our fervent hope that in the coming weeks, Chrysler will find a viable partner and GM will develop a business plan that will put it on a path to profitability without endless support from American taxpayer. In the meantime, we’re taking steps to spur demand for American cars and provide relief for autoworkers and their communities. And we will continue to reaffirm this nation’s commitment to a 21st-century American auto industry that creates new jobs and builds the fuel-efficient cars and trucks that will carry us toward a clean-energy future.

Finally, to coordinate a global response to this global recession, I went to the meeting of the G20 nations in London the other week. Each nation has undertaken significant stimulus to spur demand. All agreed to pursue tougher regulatory reforms. We also agreed to triple the lending capacity of the International Monetary Fund — which, as many of you know, is an international financial institution supported by all the major economies — so that they can provide direct assistance to developing nations and vulnerable populations. That’s not just charity; because America’s success depends on whether other nations have the ability to buy what we sell, it’s important that we pay attention to these emerging markets.

We pledged to avoid the trade barriers and protectionism that hurts us all in the end. And we decided to meet again in the fall to gauge our progress and take additional steps if necessary.

So that’s where we’ve been, that’s what we’ve done in the last three months. All of these actions — the Recovery Act, the bank capitalization program, the housing plan, the strengthening of the non-bank credit market, the auto plan, and our work at the G20 — all have been necessary pieces of the recovery puzzle. They’ve been designed to increase aggregate demand to get credit flowing again to families and businesses and to help families and businesses ride out the storm. And taken together, these actions are starting to generate signs of economic progress.

Because of our recovery plan, schools and police departments have cancelled planned layoffs; clean energy companies and construction companies are re-hiring workers to build everything from energy-efficient windows to new roads and highways. Our housing plan has helped lead to a spike in the number of homeowners who are taking advantage of historically-low mortgage rates by refinancing, which is like putting a $2,000 tax cut in your pocket. Our program to support the market for auto loans and student loans has started to unfreeze this market and securitize more of this lending in the last few weeks. And small businesses are seeing a jump in loan activity for the first time in months.

Now, this is all welcome and encouraging news. It does not mean the hard times are over; 2009 will continue to be a difficult year for America’s economy, and obviously, most difficult for those who’ve lost their jobs. The severity of this recession will cause more job loss, more foreclosures, and more pain before it ends. The market will continue to rise and fall. Credit is still not flowing nearly as easily as it should. The process for restructuring AIG and the auto companies will involve difficult and sometimes unpopular choices; we are not finished yet on that front. And all of this means that there’s much more work to be done. But all of this also means that you can continue to expect an unrelenting, unyielding, day-by-day effort from this administration to fight for economic recovery on all fronts.

But even as we continue to clear away the wreckage and address the immediate crisis, it is my firm belief that our next task, beginning now, is to make sure such a crisis never happens again. (Applause.) Even as we clean up balance sheets and get credit flowing again, even as people start spending and businesses start hiring — all that’s going to happen — we have to realize that we cannot go back to the bubble-and-bust economy that led us to this point.

It is simply not sustainable to have a 21st-century financial system that is governed by 20th-century rules and regulations that allowed the recklessness of a few to threaten the entire economy. It is not sustainable to have an economy where in one year, 40 percent of our corporate profits came from a financial sector that was based on inflated home prices, maxed-out credit cards, over-leveraged banks and overvalued assets. It’s not sustainable to have an economy where the incomes of the top 1 percent has skyrocketed while the typical working household has seen their incomes decline by nearly $2,000. That’s just not a sustainable model for long-term prosperity.

For even as too many were out there chasing ever-bigger bonuses and short-term profits over the last decade, we continued to neglect the long-term threats to our prosperity: the crushing burden that the rising cost of health care is placing on families and businesses; the failure of our education system to prepare our workers for a new age; the progress that other nations are making on clean energy industries and technologies while we — we remain addicted to foreign oil; the growing debt that we’re passing on to our children. Even after we emerge from the current recession, these challenges will still represent major obstacles that stand in the way of our success in the 21st century. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.

Now, there’s a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men. The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was soon destroyed when a storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”

It was founded upon a rock. We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity — a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad.

It’s a foundation built upon five pillars that will grow our economy and make this new century another American century: Number one, new rules for Wall Street that will reward drive and innovation, not reckless risk-taking — (applause); number two, new investments in education that will make our workforce more skilled and competitive — (applause); number three, new investments in renewable energy and technology that will create new jobs and new industries — (applause); number four, new investments in health care that will cut costs for families and businesses; and number five, new savings in our federal budget that will bring down the debt for future generations. (Applause.)

That’s the new foundation we must build. That’s our house built upon a rock. That must be our future — and my administration’s policies are designed to achieve that future.

Let me talk about each of these steps in turn. The first step we will take to build this foundation is to reform the outdated rules and regulations that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place. It is time to lay down tough new rules of the road for Wall Street to ensure that we never find ourselves here again. Just as after the Great Depression new rules were designed for banks to avoid the kind of reckless speculation that helped to create the depression, so we’ve got to make adaptations to our current set of rules: create rules that punish shortcuts and abuse; rules that tie someone’s pay to their actual job performance — a novel concept — (laughter); rules that protect typical American families when they buy a home, get a credit card or invest in a 401(k). So we’ve already begun to work with Congress to shape this comprehensive new regulatory framework — and I expect a bill to arrive on my desk for my signature before the year is out.

The second pillar of this new foundation is an education system that finally prepares our workers for a 21st century economy. You know, in the 20th century, the G.I. Bill helped send a generation to college. For decades we led the world in educational attainment, and as a consequence we led the world in economic growth. But in this new economy, we’ve come to trail the world’s leaders in graduation rates, in educational achievement, in the production of scientists and engineers. That’s why we have set a goal that will greatly enhance our ability to compete for the high-wage, high-tech jobs of the 21st century: By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. That is the goal that we have set and we intend to do. (Applause.)

To meet that goal, we have to start early. So we’ve already dramatically expanded early childhood education. (Applause.) We are investing in innovative programs that have proven to help schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. We’re creating new rewards that tie teachers’ performance and new pathways for advancement. And I’ve asked every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training, and we have provided tax credits to make a college education more affordable for every American, even those who attend Georgetown. (Applause.)

And, by the way, one of the changes that I would like to see — and I’m going to be talking about this in weeks to come — is once again seeing our best and our brightest commit themselves to making things — engineers, scientists, innovators. (Applause.) For so long, we have placed at the top of our pinnacle folks who can manipulate numbers and engage in complex financial calculations. And that’s good, we need some of that. (Laughter.) But you know what we can really use is some more scientists and some more engineers, who are building and making things that we can export to other countries. (Applause.)

Now, the third pillar of this new foundation is to harness the renewable energy that can create millions of new jobs and new industries. We all know that the country that harnesses this new energy source will lead the 21st century. Yet we’ve allowed other countries to outpace us on this race to the future. I don’t know about you, but I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders. I think it’s time for America to lead again.

So the investments we made in the Recovery Act will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years. (Applause.) And we are putting Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions on our energy bills and grow our economy at the same time.

Now, the only though that we can truly spark the transformation that’s need is through a gradual, market-based cap on carbon pollution, so that clean energy is the profitable kind of energy. (Applause.)

There are those who’ve argued that we shouldn’t attempt, we shouldn’t even be thinking, we shouldn’t even be talking about such a transition until the economy recovers. And they are right that we have to take into account the costs of transition. Transitioning to a clean energy economy will not be easy. But we can no longer delay putting a framework for a clean energy economy in place. That needs to be done now. (Applause.)

If businesses and entrepreneurs know today that we are closing this carbon pollution loophole, they’ll start investing in clean energy now. And pretty soon, we’ll see more companies constructing solar panels, and workers building wind turbines, and car companies manufacturing fuel-efficient cars. Investors will put some money into a new energy technology, and a small business will open to start selling it. That’s how we can grow this economy, enhance our security, and protect our planet at the same time.

Now, the fourth pillar of our new foundation is a 21st century health care system where families, businesses and government budgets aren’t dragged down by skyrocketing insurance premiums. (Applause.) One and a half million Americans could lose their homes this year just because of a medical crisis. Major American corporations are struggling to compete with their foreign counterparts. Small businesses are closing their doors. We can’t allow the cost of health care to continue strangling our economy.

And that’s why our Recovery Act will invest in electronic health records with strict privacy standards that can save money and lives and reduce medical error. That’s why we’ve made the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that’s one of the best ways to keep costs under control. And included in the budgets that just passed Congress is an historic commitment to reform that will finally make quality health care affordable for every American. (Applause.) So I’m looking forward in the next few months to working with both parties in Congress to make this reform a reality. We can get this done — and we have to get it done.

Now, fixing our health care system will — will require resources; it’s not going to be free. But in my budget we’ve made a commitment to fully pay for reform without increasing the deficit, and we’ve identified specific savings that will make the health care system more efficient and reduce costs for us all.

In fact, we’ve undertaken an unprecedented effort to find this kind of savings in every corner of the budget, because the final pillar in building our new foundation is restoring fiscal discipline once this economy recovers.

Already we’ve identified $2 trillion dollars in deficit reductions over the next decade. We need to do more, but we’ve already done that. We’ve announced procurement reform that will greatly reduce no-bid contracts and save the government $40 billion. We need to do more, but that’s an important start. Secretary Gates recently announced a courageous set of reforms that go right at the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and cost overruns that have bloated our defense budget without making America safer. We need to do more, but that proposal by Secretary Gates is right on target. We will end education programs that don’t work, we will root out waste and fraud and abuse in our Medicare program.

Altogether, this budget will reduce discretionary spending for domestic programs as a share of the economy by more than 10 percent over the next decade to the lowest level we’ve seen since we began keeping records nearly half a century ago. And as we continue to go through the federal budget line by line, we will be announcing additional savings, secured by eliminating and consolidating programs that we don’t need so we can make room for the things that we do need.

That’s what we’re doing now. Of course, I realize that for some, this isn’t enough. I know there’s a criticism out there that my administration has been spending with reckless abandon, pushing a liberal social agenda while mortgaging our children’s future. You’ve heard the argument.

Well, let me make three points. First, as I said earlier, the worst thing that we could do in a recession this severe is to try to cut government spending at the same time as families and businesses around the world are cutting back on their spending. So as serious as our deficit and debt problems are — and they are very serious — major efforts to deal with them have to focus on the medium and long-term budget picture, not on the short-term. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.

Second, in tackling the deficit issue, we simply cannot sacrifice the long-term investments that we so desperately need to generate long-term prosperity. That’s the argument that some critics have made: Well, you’re proposing health care reform, you shouldn’t be doing that; you’re proposing education investments, you shouldn’t be doing that, that adds to the deficit.

Look, just as a cash-strapped family may cut back on all kinds of luxuries, but will still insist on spending money to get their children through college, will refuse to have their kids drop out of college and go to work in some fast-food place, even though that might bring in some income in the short-term, because they’re thinking about the long term — so we as a country have to make current choices with an eye for the future. (Applause.)

If we don’t invest now in renewable energy, if we don’t invest now in a skilled workforce, if we don’t invest now in a more affordable health care system, this economy simply won’t grow at the pace it needs to in two or five or 10 years down the road. If we don’t lay this new foundation now, it won’t be long before we’re right back where we are today. And I can assure you that chronically slow growth will not help our long-term budget situation. That’s the second point.

Third point, the problem with our deficit and debt is not new. It has been building dramatically over the past eight years, largely because big tax cuts combined with increased spending on two wars and the increased costs of government health care programs have pushed it ever upwards. This structural gap in our budget, between the amount of money that’s coming in and the amount of money that’s going out, will only get worse as the baby boomers age, and will in fact lead us down an unsustainable path.

But let’s not kid ourselves and suggest that we can solve this problem by trimming a few earmarks or cutting the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts. That’s just not true. (Applause.) Along with defense and interest on the national debt, the biggest cost drivers in our budget are entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — all of which get more and more expensive every year. So if we want to get serious about fiscal discipline, and I do, then we’re going to not only have to trim waste out of our discretionary budget — which we’ve already begun — we will also have to get serious about entitlement reform.

Now, nothing will be more important to this goal than passing health care reform that brings down costs across the system, including in Medicare and Medicaid. (Applause.) So make no mistake, health care reform is entitlement reform. That’s not just my opinion — that was the conclusion of a wide range of participants at the Fiscal Responsibility Summit that we held at the White House in February. And that’s one of the reasons why I firmly believe we need to get health care reform done this year. (Applause.)

Once we tackle rising health care costs, we must also work to put Social Security on firmer footing. It’s time for both parties to come together and find a way to keep the promise of a sound retirement for future generations. And we should restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code including by shutting down corporate loopholes and ensuring that everyone pays what they owe. (Applause.)

All of these efforts will require tough choices. All these efforts will require compromise. But the difficulties can’t serve as an excuse for inaction — not anymore — which brings me to one final point I’d like to make today. I’ve talked a lot about the fundamental weakness in our economy that led us to this day of reckoning. But we also arrived here because of a fundamental weakness in our political system.

For too long, too many in Washington put off hard decisions for some other time on some other day. There’s been a tendency to spend a lot of time scoring political points instead of rolling up sleeves to solve real problems.

There’s also an impatience that characterizes this town — an attention span that has only grown shorter with the 24-hour news cycle that insists on instant gratification in the form of immediate results or higher poll numbers. When a crisis hits, there’s all too often a lurch from shock to trance, with everyone responding to the tempest of the moment until the furor has died down, the media coverage has moved on to something else, instead of confronting the major challenges that will shape our future in a sustained and focused way.

This can’t be one of those times. The challenges are too great. The stakes are too high. I know how difficult it is for members of Congress in both parties to grapple with some of the big decisions we face right now. I’d love if these problems were coming at us one at a time instead of five or six at a time. It’s more than most Congresses and most Presidents have to deal with in a lifetime.

But we have been called to govern in extraordinary times. And that requires an extraordinary sense of responsibility — to ourselves, to the men and women who sent us here, to the many generations whose lives will be affected for good or for ill because of what we do here.

There is no doubt that times are still tough. By no means are we out of the woods just yet. But from where we stand, for the very first time, we’re beginning to see glimmers of hope. And beyond that, way off in the distance, we can see a vision of an America’s future that is far different than our troubled economic past. It’s an America teeming with new industry and commerce, humming with new energy and discoveries that light the world once more — a place where anyone from anywhere with a good idea or the will to work can live the dream they’ve heard so much about.

That is the house upon the rock — proud, sturdy, unwavering in the face of the greatest storms. And we will not finish it in one year. We will not finish it in many. But if we use this moment to lay that new foundation, if we come together and begin the hard work of rebuilding, if we persist and persevere against the disappointments and setbacks that will surely lie ahead, then I have no doubt that this house will stand and the dream of our founders will live on in our time.

Thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END
12:28 P.M. EDT

Economy: 03-12-09 Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades From Economists

Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades From Economists

U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.

The economists’ assessment stands in stark contrast with Mr. Obama’s popularity with the public, with a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll giving him a 60% approval rating. A majority of the 49 economists polled said they were dissatisfied with the administration’s economic policies.

On average, they gave the president a grade of 59 out of 100, and although there was a broad range of marks, 42% of respondents rated Mr. Obama …

Full article here.

A New Socialism: 03-12-09 Obama Declares Turning Point on Earmark Reform

from White House.gov Blog Feed

Today President Obama signed the final version of last year’s budget, as posted here on Friday while it was making its way through Congress, in order to keep the government functioning. As he explained, there was much to speak well of in the bill:

Now, yesterday Congress sent me the final part of last year’s budget; a piece of legislation that rolls nine bills required to keep the government running into one, a piece of legislation that addresses the immediate concerns of the American people by making needed investments in line with our urgent national priorities.

That’s what nearly 99 percent of this legislation does — the nearly 99 percent that you probably haven’t heard much about.

However, the President continued, “What you likely have heard about is that this bill does include earmarks.” He made several points, noting that earmarks need not be inherently evil if they are simply transparent requests for help in areas of legitimate need, and that many who would focus all of their energies railing against earmarks often fight to the teeth for their own.

But the President made clear that there have also been too many examples where earmarking led to corruption, and that while significant progress had been made in the last Congress there is still ample room for reform.   He called on Congress to act this year on the principals he set forth, principals that Congressional analyst and historian Norm Ornstein called “a solid, practical and comprehensive set of new steps to take us much closer to the kind of meaningfully balanced system the American people deserve,” adding that “The president’s proposal is real reform.” President Obama laid the principals out clearly:

In my discussions with Congress, we have talked about the need for further reforms to ensure that the budget process inspires trust and confidence instead of cynicism. So I believe as we move forward, we can come together around principles that prevent the abuse of earmarks.

These principles begin with a simple concept: Earmarks must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose. Earmarks that members do seek must be aired on those members’ websites in advance, so the public and the press can examine them and judge their merits for themselves. Each earmark must be open to scrutiny at public hearings, where members will have to justify their expense to the taxpayer.

Next, any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts. The awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice, as witnessed by some of the indictments and convictions that we’ve already seen. Private companies differ from the public entities that Americans rely on every day –- schools, and police stations, and fire departments.

When somebody is allocating money to those public entities, there’s some confidence that there’s going to be a public purpose. When they are given to private entities, you’ve got potential problems. You know, when you give it to public companies — public entities like fire departments, and if they are seeking taxpayer dollars, then I think all of us can feel some comfort that the state or municipality that’s benefitting is doing so because it’s going to trickle down and help the people in that community. When they’re private entities, then I believe they have to be evaluated with a higher level of scrutiny.

Furthermore, it should go without saying that an earmark must never be traded for political favors.

And finally, if my administration evaluates an earmark and determines that it has no legitimate public purpose, then we will seek to eliminate it, and we’ll work with Congress to do so.

White House: 03-06-09 Rebuidling American Town by Town – Let’s start with Fairbanks, Alaska

Rebuilding America, town by town

from White House.gov Blog Feed

Today the President went to Ohio for the Graduation of the Columbus Police Division’s 114^th Class.   He went as the Department of Justice was making available $2 billion in Justice Assistance Grants from the recovery act, funding that will put more people to work — more cops on the street, more prosecutors helping in overloaded offices, more factory jobs making law enforcement equipment. It was also another very bad day in economic news, demonstrating why it was so necessary to pass the recovery plan and start getting the country moving forward again.

President Obama talked about the news:

This city of Columbus needs the courage and the commitment of this graduating class to keep it safe, to make sure that people have the protection that they need.  This economy needs your employment to keep it running.  Just this morning we learned that we lost another 651,000 jobs throughout the country in the month of February alone, which brings the total number of jobs lost in this recession to an astounding 4.4 million.

Four point four million jobs.  I don’t need to tell the people of this state what statistics like this mean, because so many of you have been watching jobs disappear long before this recession hit.

President Obama made clear that while the economy he inherited seemed like it was in an endless free fall, “Well, that is not a future I accept for the United States of America.” The recovery plan will help make sure the graduating class he saluted today doesn’t find themselves hitting a brick wall of budget cuts, and can still find the work they thought would be there to support themselves and their families. And that is just one sector in just one town, something that will be replicated all over the country:

In Savannah, Georgia, the police department would use this funding to hire more crime and intelligence analysts and put more cops on the beat protecting our schools.  In Long Beach, California, it will be able to help fund 17,000 hours of overtime for law enforcement officials who are needed in high-crime areas.  West Haven, Connecticut will be able to restore crime prevention programs that were cut, even though they improved the quality of life in the city’s most troubled neighborhoods.  And the state of Iowa will be able to rehire drug enforcement

President Obama made clear that these real stories and real lives are what has made him so passionate about passing a plan that could create real jobs:

So for those who still doubt the wisdom of our recovery plan, I ask them to talk to the teachers who are still able to teach our children because we passed this plan.  I ask them to talk to the nurses who are still able to care for our sick, and the firefighters and first responders who will still be able to keep our communities safe.  I ask them to come to Ohio and meet the 25 men and women who will soon be protecting the streets of Columbus because we passed this plan.  (Applause.)  I look at these young men and women, I look into their eyes and I see their badges today and I know we did the right thing.

Obama: 03-05-09 Likes BIG committees (Health Reform Attendees)

White House Forum on Health Reform Attendees and Breakout Session Participants

from White House News

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   March 5, 2009

White House Forum on Health Reform Attendees and Breakout Session Participants

President Obama will deliver remarks to open the White House Forum on Health Reform in the East Room this afternoon.  These remarks will be open press.

Following the opening session, attendees will divide into five breakout groups to discuss ideas on how to bring down health care costs and increase coverage. Below is a list of participants in each breakout group as well as all attendees. Each session will have writer pools present; all five will be webcast on whitehouse.gov and one session will be carried by C-SPAN, which has opted to share footage with other television media outlets.

To close the forum, the President will reassemble participants to hold a dialogue in the East Room. This event will be open press.

Participants in Breakout Groups:

I. BREAKOUT SESSION ONE: STATE DINING ROOM

Moderator:    Melody Barnes
Moderator:    Bob Kocher

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ)
Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
SEIU, Dennis Rivera
Business Roundtable, Ken Powell (CEO of General Mills)
American Hospital Association, Rich Umbdenstock
American Cancer Society, Daniel Smith
American Nurses Association, Rebecca Patton
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Scott Serota
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Health Task Force,
Peter Thomas
Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards
National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Janet Murguia

II. BREAKOUT SESSION TWO: EEOB 350

Moderator:    Valerie Jarrett
Moderator:    Zeke Emanuel

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Rep. Miller (D-CA)
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Rep. Donna Christensen (D-VI)
Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX)
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)
National Association of Manufacturers, John Engler
Federation of American Hospitals, Chip Kahn
University of Chicago Medical School, Eric Whitaker
Pfizer, Jeff Kindler
PICO, Scott Hersey Reed
National Partnership for Women and Families, Deb Ness
Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, Fredette West
Alliance for Retired Americans, Ed Coyle
III. BREAKOUT SESSION THREE: EEOB 474

Moderator:    Peter Orszag
Moderator:    Secretary Shinseki

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA)
Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), Joe Hansen
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Dan Danner
Catholic Health Association, Sister Carol Keehan
Hispanic Medical Association, Elena Rios
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Karen Ignani
Campaign for Mental Health Reform, Bill Emmet
Asian and Pacific Islander Health Forum, Dr. Ho Tran
Families USA, Ron Pollack
Center for American Progress, John Podesta

IV. BREAKOUT SESSION FOUR: EEOB 180

Moderator:    Nancy-Ann DeParle
Moderator:    Diana Farrel

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
AFL-CIO, Gerry Shea
Small Business Majority, John Arensmeyer
American Medical Association, Nancy Nielsen
PhRMA, Billy Tauzin
National Indian Health Board, Stacey Bohlen
National Association of People Living with AIDS, Frank Oldham

V. BREAKOUT SESSION FIVE: EEOB 248

Moderator:    Larry Summers
Moderator:    Neera Tanden

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI)
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)
Rep. Pete Stark (by phone) (D-CA)
Teamsters, Jim Hoffa
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue
National Medical Association, Mohammad Akhter
Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman
AARP, Bill Novelli
HCAN, Richard Kirsch
University of Miami, Donna Shalala

White House Forum on Health Reform Attendees

Everyday Americans
In December, 2008 the Transition’s Health Policy Team solicited everyday Americans to hold Health Care Community Discussions around the country. The seven everyday Americans listed below all conveyed problems with the current health care system, expressed a desire to reform the system, and hosted discussions in their communities on health care issues.  They were invited to participate in Thursday’s White House Forum on Health Reform.

Travis Ulerick is a 24-year old firefighter from Dublin, Indiana. He started out as a firefighter and first responder for the volunteer fire department on June 28, 2000.  When the fire department became the sole EMS provider for the southwestern portion of Wayne County in 2007, Ulerick was one of the four crew members hired to work full-time on the department’s ambulance.  He graduated from nearby Lincoln High School, and is currently a senior at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Travis hosted a health care community discussion with other local first responders, doctors, and everyday Americans in January in the bay of Dublin’s fire station. Recently HHS staff followed Travis around his job, and he will be featured in an upcoming video on the new healthreform.gov website. *NOTE: Travis Ulerick will introduce the President at the opening session.

Julia Denton is a 52-year old Republican from Yorktown, Virginia. Her husband is an active duty Air Force dentist with more than 23 years service. Julia currently devotes her time to caretaking and advocacy on behalf of her son Matthew, who was born with a rare genetic disorder resulting in multiple disabilities. Although Julia was a volunteer for the McCain/Palin campaign during the general election, she is now committed to the Obama health plan. She hosted a health care community discussion in December and since has continued to support the health reform effort.

Siavash Sarlati is a 24-year old Iranian-born, American citizen, and a medical student at the University of Wisconsin. After completing high school, he pursued a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating with honors. Siavash is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and he hopes to pursue a Masters in Public Health. Siavash hosted a health care community discussion in December. He is interested in doing his residency in an under-served urban area.

Yvonne Rubie is a 57-year old from Brooklyn, New York. She is an active volunteer at House of the Lord Church, where she hosted a health care community discussion in December. Yvonne has a master’s degree in public health and uses her skills to promote health and wellness through health fairs, church discussions, and information sessions on diabetes. In an effort to continue the community discussion, she is in the process of planning an event in May focusing on elder care. Yvonne is committed to improving health care at both the national and local level.

James Stoffer is a 54-year old teacher and small-business owner from Delafield, Wisconsin. As the owner of a malt shop, James is all too familiar with the high costs of insurance. Although his family has a history of cancer, he cannot afford the checkups due to cost. He spoke about insurance being an obstacle to fulfilling his lifelong dream of owning his own business and fears that the current system limits other entrepreneurs.

Jose Oliva is a 63-year old Mexican-born, United States Citizen from El Paso, Texas. Jose works as a Customs and Border Protection Officer along the Texas-Mexico border. He is a veteran who served in the United States Air Force from May 1965 through May 1969, and all his higher education costs were paid through the GI bill and part-time employment. Jose and his wife have been married for 38 years and have four grown children. In December, Jose hosted a health care community discussion, where group participants discussed challenges to people in impoverished areas of the country. Jose believes that the biggest challenge in reforming health care is by improving access to all Americans.

Angela Diggs is a 42-year old Washington D.C. native, who is the administrator of the Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center, which is a partnership of the District of Columbia Office on Aging and Providence Hospital’s Wellness Institute. The center provides health and wellness classes for seniors on D.C.’s southwest side. In December, Angela helped organize a health care community discussion.

Members of Congress Expected to Attend

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) – Assistant Majority Leader
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) – Chairman, HELP Committee
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) – Ranking Member, HELP Committee
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) – Chairman, Finance Committee
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) – Ranking Member, Finance Committee
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) – Chairman, Health Subcommittee of the Finance Committee
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) – Ranking Member, Health Subcommittee (Finance Committee)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) – Chairman, Appropriations Subcommittee on Health Care
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) – Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on Health Care
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) – House Majority Leader
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) – Republican Whip
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) – Vice Chair of Democratic Caucus
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) – Chairman, Energy & Commerce Committee
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) – Ranking Member, Energy & Commerce Committee
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) – Chairman, Ways and Means Committee
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) – Ranking Member, Ways and Means Committee
Rep. George Miller (D-CA) – Chairman, Education and Labor Committee
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) – Ranking Member, Education and Labor Committee
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) – Chairman Emeritus of Energy & Commerce Committee
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) – Chairman, Health Subcommittee for Energy & Commerce
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) – Ranking Member, Health Subcommittee for Energy & Commerce
Rep. Pete Stark (by phone) (D-CA) – Chairman, Health Subcommittee of Ways and Means
Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA) – Ranking Member, Health Subcommittee, Ways and Means
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) – Chair, Education & Labor Subcommittee on Health, Labor, et al.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Rep. Donna Christensen (D-VI)
Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX)
Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA)
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)

Community Leaders and Stakeholders Expected to Attend

(in alphabetical order by organization name)

AARP, Bill Novelli, President
ADAPT, Bobby Coward
AFL-CIO, Gerry Shea, Assistant to the President for Governmental Affairs
AFSCME, Gerry McEntee, President
AFT, Randy Weingarten, President
AIDS Action    Rebecca Haag  President and CEO
Alliance for Retired Americans, Ed Coyle, Executive Director
America’s Health Insurance Plans, Karen Ignani, President and CEO
American Cancer Society, Daniel Smith, President
American College of Physicians, Jeff Harris, President
American Academy of Pediatrics, David Tayloe, President
American College of Cardiology, W. Douglas Weaver, President
American Academy of Family Physicians, Ted Epperly, President
American Diabetes Association, Larry Hausner, CEO
American Heart Association, Timothy J. Gardner, President
American Hospital Association, Rich Umbdenstock, President
American Medical Association, Nancy Nielsen, President
American Nurses Association, Rebecca Patton, President
Asian and Pacific Islander Health Forum, Dr. Ho Tran, Executive Director
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, Jeff Caballero, Executive Director
Building and Construction Trades Department, Mark Ayers, President
Better Health Care Together, Jody Hoffman, Executive Director
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Scott Serota, CEO
Campaign for America’s Future, Roger Hickey, Founder and Co-Director
Campaign for Mental Health Reform, William Emmett, Director
Catholic Health Association, Sister Carol Keehan, President and CEO
CCD Health Task Force, Peter Thomas
CED, Charlie Kolb, CEO
Center for American Progress, John Podesta, President and CEO
Change to Win, Anna Burger, Chair
Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman, Founding President
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Irwin E. Redlener, M.D.
Communications Workers of America, Larry Cohen, President
Families USA, Ron Pollack, President
Federation of American Hospitals, Chip Kahn, President
General Mills, Ken Powell, President and CEO
Health Care for America Now, Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager
Hispanic Medical Association, Elena Rios, President
Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, President
Jennings Policy Strategies Group, Inc, Chris Jennings, President
League of United Latin American Citizens, Brent Wilkes, Executive Director
Markle Foundation, Zoe Baird, President
National Association of Counties, Valerie Brown, Incoming NACO Chair
National Association of Manufacturers, John Engler, President and CEO
National Association of People with AIDS, Frank Oldham, President and CEO
National Association of Community Health Centers, Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO
National Council of La Raza, Janet Murguia, President and CEO
National Jewish Hospital, Dr. Michael Salem, President           ;
National Congress of American Indians, Jacqueline L. Johnson Pata, Executive Director
National Federation of Independent Businesses, Dan Danner, President
National Indian Health Board, Stacey Bohlen, Executive Director
National Medical Association, Mohammad Akhter, Executive Director
National Partnership for Women and Families, Debra Ness, President
National Business Group on Health, Helen Darling, President
National Association of Children’s Hospitals, Larry McAndrews, President and CEO
National Association of Public Hospitals, Larry Gage, President
National Rural Health Association, Dennis Berens, President
National Coalition on Health Care, Henry Simmons, Founder
National Association for Home Care & Hospice, Val Halamandaris, President
National Women’s Law Center, Marcia Greenberger, President
National Minority AIDS Council, Paul Kawata, President
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Rea Carey, President
National Hispanic Health Alliance, Dr. Jane Delgado, President
National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, President
Pfizer, Jeffrey Kindler, CEO
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Billy Tauzin, President and CEO
Physicians for a National Health Plan, Dr. Oliver Fein, Director
PICO, Scott Hersey Reed, Executive Director
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, President
Racial and Ethnic Disparities Health Coalition, Fredette West, President
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO
SEIU, Dennis Rivera, Chair
SEIU, Andy Stern, President
Small Business Majority, John Arensmeyer, Founder and CEO
Teamsters, Jim Hoffa, President
Trust for America’s Health, Jeff Levi, Executive Director
UAW, Ronald Gettelfinger, President
UFCW, Joe Hansen, President
University of Chicago Medical School, Eric Whitaker, Executive Vice President For Strategic Affiliations
University of Miami, Donna Shalala, President
USW, Leo Gerard, President
US Chamber, Tom Donohue, President

White House: 03-04-09 Announces Regional Finalists for Fellows

Congratulations to All!

from White House News

For Immediate Release
March 4, 2009

Contact:  Janet Slaughter Eissenstat

THE WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES REGIONAL FINALISTS

FOR THE 2009-2010 CLASS OF WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS

WASHINGTON, DC – The White House announced today that 108 outstanding men and women from across the country have been selected as Regional Finalists for the White House Fellows Program. Founded in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson, the White House Fellows Program is the nation’s most prestigious program for leadership and public service.

This year’s Regional Finalists represent a broad cross-section of professions, including technology, education, health care, state government, engineering, business, consulting, law, the non-profit sector, and the military. A complete list of the Regional Finalists is included below.

During March and April 2009, Regional Finalists will participate in a rigorous interview process. Based on the results of these interviews, approximately thirty candidates will be named National Finalists. The President’s Commission on White House Fellowships will interview the National Finalists in June 2009 and then recommend candidates to President Barack Obama for a one-year appointment as White House Fellows.

White House Fellows spend a year working as full-time, paid special assistants to senior White House Staff, Cabinet Secretaries and other top-ranking government officials. Fellows also participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with renowned leaders from the private and public sectors and trips to study U.S. policy in action both domestically and internationally.

Selection as a White House Fellow is highly competitive and based on a record of remarkable professional achievement early in one’s career, evidence of leadership potential, a proven commitment to public service, and the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute successfully at the highest levels of the Federal government. Fellowships are awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis. The program has fostered a legacy of leadership, with nearly 600 alumni who are respected leaders. Alumni include former Secretary of State Colin Powell, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Travelocity CEO Michelle Peluso, and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert.

2009-2010 White House Fellows Regional Finalists:

Chisaraokwu N. Asomugha               Hamden, CT

Laura M. Bacon                                Cambridge, MA

Andrew J. Baldwin                            Washington, DC

Komal Bazaz Smith                          Arlington, VA

Scott A. Berkowitz                            Columbia, MD

Trevor P. Blair                                 San Diego, CA

Eric H. Blinderman                           New York, NY

Jeremy N. Block                               Durham, NC

Christina Boiler                                New York, NY

Jacquelyn R. Bonner                         Washington, DC

Sudip K. Bose                                  Chicago, IL

Nicole E. Campbell                           Brooklyn, NY

Dimitri C. Cassimatis                        Landstuhl, Germany

Robert C. Castelli                             Southern Pines, NC

Sreekanth K. Chaguturu                    Boston, MA

Carolyn N. Choi                                Los Altos, CA

Aysha A. Chowdhry                          Chevy Chase, MD

Bowen Chung                                   Santa Monica, CA

David W. Cooper                              Waldorf, MD

Chad A. Crank                                 Little Rock, AR

Gery B. Cummings                            Manhattan, KS

Luqman K. Dad                                Buffalo, NY

Amar A. Desai                                 Westlake Village, CA

Kyle W. Dietrich                                Southlake, TX

John E. Ethridge                               Alexandria, VA

Jose M. Fernandez                           San Francisco, CA

Jonathan J. Finer                              New Haven, CT

Theodore S. Fish                              Santa Fe, NM

Eric T. Fleckten                                Kirkville, NY

David C. Foley                                 Clarksville, TN

Daniel P. Gallagher                          Havertown, PA

Rebekah E. Gee                               Philadelphia, PA

Elisha P. Gilliam                               Baltimore, MD

Victor J. Glover                                Ridgecrest, CA

Shawn-Pavan M. Golhar                    Santa Monica, CA

John T. Green                                  San Diego, CA

Peter F. Halvorsen                           Norfolk, VA

Kenneth E. Harbaugh                       Hamden, CT

Sarah A. Harris                                Indianapolis, IN

Garry A. Harsanyi                            Princeton, NJ

Alexander J. Hartemink                    Durham, NC

Kellie M. Hawkins                             Los Angeles, CA

Michael J. Hillyard                            Jacksonville, FL

Zheng Y. Huang                               San Jose, CA

Ellen C. Hunter                                Atlanta, GA

Erica L. Jacquez Santos                    Lakewood, CA

Kellee T. James                               Chicago, IL

Sarah S. Johnson                              Cambridge, MA

Timothy Johnson                              Crofton, MD

Joanna T. Katzman                          Abuja, Nigeria

Moushumi M. Khan                           Ann Arbor, MI

Maureen E. Kinder                           Washington, DC

Michael E. Kopko                             Fort Lauderdale, FL

Robert E. Kopp                                Princeton, NJ

Benjamin L. Kornell                          Palo Alto, CA

Emma L. Kurnat-Thoma                   Bethesda, MD

H Clay Lyle                                      Woodbridge, VA

Robert K. Lyman                              Niceville, FL

James H. Mackey                             Brussels, Belgium

Anish P. Mahajan                             Los Angeles, CA

Mehret Mandefro                             Philadelphia, PA

Brett H. Mandel                               Philadelphia, PA

Ann T. Maxwell                                Santa Barbara, CA

Loren Z. McArthur                            Lexington, MA

Matthew Meyer                                Brooklyn, NY

Emil G. Michael                                Miami Beach, FL

Suzanne M. Miller                             Washington, DC

Lisa K. Miller                                    South Orange, NJ

Kristin E. Misner                               New York, NY

James H. Moran                               Washington, DC

Katherine Mossman                          Palmdale, CA

Ali Nouri                                          Washington, DC

James E. O’Harrah                           Fernandina Beach, FL

Patrick H. O’Mahoney                       Corpus Christi, TX

Collin P. O’Mara                               Berkeley, CA

Abimbola T. Omoniyi                       New York, NY

Obinna A. Onyeagoro                       New York, NY

Brandon D. Parker                           Montgomery, AL

Allen J. Pepper                                Springfield, VA

Omar M. Rashid                              Richmond, VA

Kyle A. Rasmussen                          Mason, OH

Kristin A. Resnansky                        New York, NY

Kendric H. Robbins                         Iraq

Cindy L. Rodriguez                          Lutz, FL

Allison I. Rogers                              Providence, RI

Matthew A. Rojansky                       Washington, DC

Adam R. Rosenthal                         San Diego, CA

Mark A. Rothert                              Canton, IL

Anthony L. Russell                           Stafford, VA

Manish K. Sethi                               Brookline, MA

Minesh P. Shah                               Bronx, NY

Raj M. Shah                                    Philadelphia, PA

Rachel G. Skerritt                            Roxbury, MA

Brooke K. Stearns Lawson                Venice, CA

Marc S. Sternberg                           New York, NY

Maura C. Sullivan                            Palo Alto, CA

Scott A. Suozzi                                Washington, DC

Brian K. Surratt                               Seattle, WA

Natasha Tarpley                             Chicago, IL

Adam R. Taylor                              Washington, DC

Presiliano R. Torrez                        Albuquerque, NM

Christopher J. Voorhees                  Altadena, CA

Chris E. Wallace                              Irving, TX

Michael E. Webber                          Austin, TX

Laura I. Weinbaum                          Philadelphia, PA

Sonia A. Zeledon                             Washington, DC

Wei Lily Zhou                                   Sparta, TN

David E. Zipper                               Brooklyn, NY

White House: 03-04-09 Not lining pockets of contractors, just donors and friends

Priorities — Not lining the pockets of contractors

from White House.gov Blog Feed

Last week the President laid out the foundation of a new vision for our budget and the way government does business. It is a vision based not on ideology, but on the idea that we can and must invest boldly in our future while also making the hard choices and being vigilant to bring in a new era of fiscal responsibility.

Last week began with the fiscal responsibility summit, where the President and members of Congress came together to generate ideas to get the country on a sustainable long-term track. One of the exchanges that got the most attention was between the President and Senator John McCain, who discussed the idea of procurement overruns, in Defense Department contracts in particular.

Today Sen. McCain joined the President again to develop that idea further, along with Senators Carl Levin and Claire McCaskill and Representatives Edolphus Towns and Peter Welch. The President signed a Presidential Memorandum that will reform government contracting by strengthening oversight and management of taxpayer dollars, ending unnecessary no-bid and cost-plus contracts and maximizing the use of competitive procurement processes, and clarifying rules prescribing when outsourcing is and is not appropriate. The OMB will be tasked with giving guidance to every agency on making sure contracts serve the taxpayers, not the contractors.

In addition, the President endorsed the goals of the bipartisan effort on defense procurement reform led by Senators Carl Levin and McCain, and has asked Defense Secretary Gates to work with the Senators going ahead. In his remarks, President Obama made clear that while there are those who will try to protect contractor excesses behind cries of weakening our national defenses, there will be a bipartisan, firm stand to put those excesses to an end:

The American people’s money must be spent to advance their priorities — not to line the pockets of contractors or to maintain projects that don’t work.

Recently that public trust has not always been kept.  Over the last eight years, government spending on contracts has doubled to over half a trillion dollars.  Far too often, the spending is plagued by massive cost overruns, outright fraud, and the absence of oversight and accountability.  In some cases, contracts are awarded without competition.  In others, contractors actually oversee other contractors.  We are spending money on things that we don’t need, and we’re paying more than we need to pay.  And that’s completely unacceptable.

This problem cuts across the government, but I want to focus on one particular example, and that is the situation in defense contracting.  Now, I want to be clear, as Commander-in-Chief, I will do whatever it takes to defend the American people, which is why we’ve increased funding for the best military in the history of the world.  We’ll make new investments in 21st century capabilities to meet new strategic challenges.  And we will always give our men and women the — in uniform, the equipment and the support that they need to get the job done.

But I reject the false choice between securing this nation and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars.  And in this time of great challenges, I recognize the real choice between investments that are designed to keep the American people safe and those that are designed to make a defense contractor rich.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, looked into 95 major defense projects and found cost overruns that totaled $295 billion.  Let me repeat:  That’s $295 billion in wasteful spending.  And this wasteful spending has many sources.  It comes from investments and unproven technologies.  It comes from a lack of oversight.  It comes from influence peddling and indefensible no-bid contracts that have cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.

Barack Obama: 03-03-09 President Saddened about Closure of the Department of Interior

We need limited Government

from White House News

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   March 3, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO COMMEMORATE THE 160TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

Department of Interior
Washington, D.C.

2:13 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please, have a seat. Thank you, Ken — thank you, Mr. Secretary. It is my honor to join you and the hardworking public servants here at the Department of the Interior as we mark a milestone in the distinguished history of this department.

As Ken mentioned, 160 years ago today, with the tally of a contentious vote, amidst growing tensions between North and South, as our nation expanded westward, a deeply divided Senate passed the bill that created the Department of the Interior.

The department was born less of a singular purpose than of a multitude of needs; it was founded to serve a growing nation whose roles and responsibilities were growing, as well. The department even earned a nickname: “The Department of Everything Else.” (Laughter.)

Yet, throughout our history, as Interior has performed a set of ever-changing and often unrelated duties, an overarching mission has emerged: to defend the natural bounty of this country and the welfare of its people. (Applause.) As Secretary Salazar has said, you have become the “Department of America.”

For the services you provide touch the lives of all Americans — from the clean water we drink to the clean energy we must generate; from historic monuments and museums that educate and inspire to the vast wilderness that each new generation can discover and explore. You manage 500 million acres of land, or roughly one-fifth of the area of the United States, and 1.7 billion acres offshore.

It was under this department — it was this department under President Teddy Roosevelt that helped lead an unprecedented effort to protect our natural resources. It was under this department, under President Franklin Roosevelt, that Secretary Harold Ickes supervised the Civilian Conservation Corps to help us overcome the Great Depression.

And your mission is more important than ever before. The Interior Department manages the land on which 30 percent of the nation’s energy is produced. So you have a major role to play, all of you, in our clean energy future. The nation is depending on you to help us end the tyranny of foreign oil and become energy independent — by harnessing the wind and the sun, our water, our soil, and American innovation.

That’s why I’m proud to join you this afternoon. That’s why I am pleased that this department is in the capable hands of my great friend Ken Salazar. And that is why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act creates jobs by making historic investments in the Department of the Interior.

This plan will provide more than $3 billion to the department to create jobs doing the work that America needs you to do. It will create jobs increasing our capacity to generate renewable energy on public lands — and retrofitting facilities to be far more energy efficient. It will provide for the renovation of laboratories and the replacement of research equipment that in some cases is half a century old.

We’ll fund the long-delayed work to preserve our natural wonders and historic landmarks, from Yellowstone National Park to the Statue of Liberty. And we will invest in the roads on which 275 million visitors travel to reach these sites across our country.

We’ll provide clean, reliable drinking water to rural areas, promote water conservation, repair aging water infrastructure.

And the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will rebuild and remodel schools on Indian reservations across this country — while providing more than $100 million in loans to spur job creation in the Indian economy. (Applause.)

Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, these investments will be made with unprecedented oversight. In the past, as all of you know, we’ve seen lapses that have damaged the reputation of this department, despite the integrity and faithful service of the vast majority of people who work here. In just these first five weeks, Secretary Salazar has helped bring about a new era of responsibility and accountability. (Applause.) It is in this spirit that my recovery plan is being implemented.

Finally, today I’ve signed a memorandum that will help restore the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act, a process undermined by past administrations. (Applause.) The work of scientists and experts in my administration — including right here in the Interior Department — will be respected. For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation’s most threatened wildlife, and we should be looking for ways to improve it — not weaken it.

Throughout our history, there’s been a tension between those who’ve sought to conserve our natural resources for the benefit of future generations, and those who have sought to profit from these resources. But I’m here to tell you this is a false choice. With smart, sustainable policies, we can grow our economy today and preserve the environment for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. That is what we must do. (Applause.)

For you know, you know that our long-term prosperity depends upon the faithful stewardship of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land that we sow. That’s a sacred trust, the importance of which cannot be measured merely by the acres we protect, the miles of rivers we preserve, the energy we draw from public lands.

It’s a child wandering amidst ancient redwoods, a love for science stirred as she looks skyward. It’s a young man running his hand along the walls at Ellis Island, where his grandmother once carried her every possession and the hope of a new life. It’s a family hiking along canyons carved by ancient floods, or mountains shaped by shifting continents — finding peace in the beauty of the natural world. These are experiences that enrich our lives and remind us of the blessings that we share.

And that was certainly the case for me. As many of you know, I spent much of my childhood in Hawaii, a place of extraordinary beauty and — we’ve got a Hawaiian in there — (laughter) — a place of extraordinary beauty, and one that’s home to several national parks and historic sites. But before my 11th birthday, my grandmother decided it was time for me to see the mainland.

So my grandmother, my mother, my sister and I all flew to Seattle. And we drove down the coast along the coast of California, and then east to the Grand Canyon. We headed across the Great Plains and to the Great Lakes, before heading back west through Yellowstone.

That was an experience I will never forget. It’s an experience I want for my daughters, and for all of our daughters and sons, to see the incredible beauty of this nation. It’s an experience that’s only possible because of the work you do each and every day.

So thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.) Thank you, everybody. (Applause.)

Barack Obama: 03-03-09 Remarks to AFL-CIO Executive Council

from White House News

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   March 3, 2009

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
Video to AFL-CIO Executive Council
Miami, FL
March 3, 2009

I’m sorry that I’m unable to join you this week, but it was a pleasure to see many of you at the White House recently, and I’m looking forward to having you all back often.  I want to start by thanking President Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Trumka, and Vice President Holt Baker for their leadership.  And I want to thank the Executive Council and all of you for your efforts as well as your advocacy these last several weeks. We have already started to change America on behalf of working people.

With your help, we passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan – the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history. I’ve always said that the gauge of our economic progress is clear: are we creating good jobs? Are we creating the kinds of jobs on which you can raise a family, own a home, afford college, save for retirement? That’s why this plan is so important. It will create or save three and a half million jobs over the next two years – and it will do so by putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done.

We’ll modernize our health care system, rebuild crumbling roads, bridges, levees and transit systems, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and build the classrooms that will help our children learn today – and compete tomorrow. And this plan includes the most progressive middle-class tax cuts in history; provides greater unemployment benefits for millions who have lost jobs; relieves overburdened cities and states struggling with budget shortfalls; and respects the work that Americans do right here at home while honoring our international obligations.

I’ve signed legislation helping to guarantee equal pay for equal work and expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program to millions more children. We’ve reversed the ban on project labor agreements and we’ve overturned the previous administration’s Executive Orders which were designed not only to undermine critical government work – but to undermine organized labor.

I’m also pleased to have nominated Hilda Solis, a daughter of union members and a lifelong champion for working families, to be my Secretary of Labor – and that Vice President Joe Biden has agreed to lead my administration’s Task Force on Middle Class Working Families. This Task Force will work hand in hand with my cabinet and White House agencies – as well as with all of you – to focus on growing and sustaining the middle class.

I want to repeat something that those of you who joined us for the Task Force announcement heard me say: I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, and to my administration, labor unions are a big part of the solution. We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests – because we cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement.

The truth is, the road ahead will not be easy. The economic crisis we face is vast and the challenges we confront are many; you know this because your members have already had to make sacrifices. But I have every confidence that if we are willing to do the difficult work that must be done, we will emerge from these trials stronger and more prosperous than we were before. And as we confront this crisis and work to provide health care to every American, rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, move toward a clean energy economy, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act, I want you to know that you will always have a seat at the table.

Thank you for everything you do.

Taxes: 03-02-09 ‘Meet The Press’ Addresses Tax Hikes

Yesterday, on Meet The Press, David Gregory introduced a roundtable conversation on President Obama’s plans to raise taxes, by quoting Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation. Brian’s research shows that the top 20 percent of taxpayers currently pay more than 80 percent of all taxes collected. And 40 percent of households pay no income tax. Under President Obama’s plan, the top 20 percent of all tax filers would pay 90 percent of all taxes, and the number of families who owe no tax would climb to 50 percent