The President sat down with Katie Couric during a pre-game interview and discussed health care, the deficit and other pressing issues, but also took a few minutes to talk football and acknowledge that he wished he could sign an Executive Order mandating a close game. Acknowledging that the Colts are favored, he also said he had a “soft spot in his heart for New Orleans”. He had high praise for Drew Brees who he had gotten to know during the filming of a promotional commercial for kids and sports. He is “a class act, a terrific guy” who has a “wonderful family”. The “Colts have to be favored”, he continued, but he also admitted he might have a bit of an axe to grind as it was the Colts who beat his Bears several years ago.

White House Superbowl Party Guest List:

Members of Congress:
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)
Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Cabinet Members:
Secretary Shaun Donovan
Secretary Arne Duncan
Attorney General Eric Holder
Administrator Lisa Jackson
Secretary Janet Napolitano
Ambassador Susan Rice
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary Eric Shinseki
Secretary Tom Vilsack

The Vice President and his family are spending the weekend in Beaver Creek Colorado.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, DNC. Everybody have a seat — have a seat. Thank you. Oh, it is good to see you — good to be among friends so committed to the future of this party and this country that they’re willing to brave a blizzard. (Laughter.) Snowmageddon here in D.C. (Laughter.) I noticed somebody had “Californians for Obama” and I was thinking — (applause) — you guys are not used to this. (Laughter.)

I’ve got some special thanks to the folks here. First of all I want to thank Eleanor Holmes Norton for fighting the good fight here in the District of Colombia. (Applause.) Ray Buckley, Our DNC vice chair from New Hampshire. (Applause.) Alice Germond, DNC secretary. Andy Tobias, DNC treasurer. Thanks for the great work that you guys do.

I want to thank Tim Kaine, who’s not only an outstanding former governor, but an outstanding leader of this party — (applause) — busy building the best online and in-field grassroots organization we’ve ever had. Give Tim Kaine a big round of applause. (Applause.)

And if I’m not mistaken we’ve got a couple of terrific members of Congress here, Mike Honda, congressman and DNC vice chair — Mike, are you here? He’s on his way; he’s still shoveling. (Laughter.) And how about Barbara Lee, is Barbara here? Well, we love her anyway. So give Barbara and Mike a big round of applause. (Applause.)

I want to thank the governors, the legislators, the mayors from across this country for working to move their states and local communities forward in extraordinarily challenging times. They’ve done heroic work. I want to thank the DNC members, state party leaders and, most of all, I want to thank the millions of Americans who’ve taken up the cause of change at the grassroots level in all 50 states.

Now, Tim alluded to this, but I just want to remind everybody — we knew from the beginning that this would not be easy. Change never is. But that’s especially true in these times, when we face an array of challenges as tough as any we have seen in generations. President Kennedy once said: “When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we’d been saying they were.” (Laughter.) Truth was things were worse.

We took office facing a financial crisis that was something we hadn’t seen since the Great Depression, an economy that we now know was bleeding 750,000 jobs a month, a $1.3 trillion deficit, and two wars that were costly in every sense of the word. From the specter of terrorism to the impacts of globalization, we face tremendous new challenges in this young century. And all of this comes on top of one of the toughest decades our middle class had ever faced — a decade where jobs grew more slowly than during any prior expansion; where the income of the average American household actually declined; where the costs of everything seemed to keep going up.

Everything we’ve done over the past year has been not only to right our economy, to break the back of this recession, but also to restore some of the security middle-class families have felt slipping away for over a decade now. Some of the steps we took were done without the help of the other party, which made a political decision all too often to jump in the backseat, let us do the driving and then critique whether we were taking the right turns. That’s okay. That’s part of what it means to govern.

And all the steps we took were necessary. None of us wanted to throw a lifeline to the banks. But the outrage shouldn’t be that we did — because it had to happen in order to prevent millions more from losing their jobs, millions of businesses and homes foreclosed. The real outrage is that we had to do it in the first place in order to fend off the collapse of the financial system. That’s the outrage. (Applause.)

Then we passed almost $300 billion in tax relief — tax cuts for small businesses; tax cuts for 95 percent of working Americans. We put Americans to work building the infrastructure of tomorrow — doing the work America needs done. We passed a Credit Card Bill of Rights to protect consumers from getting ripped off by credit card companies. (Applause.) We put the law behind the principle of equal pay for equal work. (Applause.) We extended the promise of health care to 4 million more children of working families, we protected every child from being targeted from tobacco companies. (Applause.)

We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy — (applause) — that gives young folks and old folks new ways to give back to their communities. We appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. (Applause.) And we’ve begun working with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country that they love because of who they are. (Applause.)

Overseas — overseas we’ve begun a new era of engagement. We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world free of nuclear weapons. We banned torture. We have begun to leave Iraq to its own people. We’ve charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and made good progress in taking the fight to al Qaeda across the globe. I went to Cairo on behalf of America to begin a new dialogue with the Muslim world. And we are living up to a moment that demands American leadership by standing side-by-side with the people of Haiti. (Applause.)

So if you look at a tally of the things we said we would do — even in the midst of this extraordinarily challenging economy — we’ve kept our promises. We’ve kept our commitments. We have moved forward on behalf of a more prosperous and more secure future for the American people.

But for all our efforts, we have to acknowledge change can’t come fast enough for many Americans. In recent weeks, I’ve visited Allentown, Pennsylvania; Elyria, Ohio; Tampa, Florida; Nashua, New Hampshire; talking with workers in factories, and families in diners. And they want to know, how are they going to find a job when they only know one trade in their life. Or how are they going to afford to send their kids to college. How are they going to pay their medical bills when they get sick. How can they retire with their 401(k) so banged up. And most of all, they’re wondering if anyone can or will do anything about it — especially here in Washington.

Now, I understand their frustration — you understand it as well. I was talking to Michelle the other day — Michelle is always a good barometer — and, you know, the front page was, oh, what’s Obama going to do to get his poll numbers up, and, are the Democrats all in a tizzy and this and that. And she said, you know, listen, if you’re the average family, if I’m a mom out there and I’m working and my husband is working but we’re worried about losing our jobs, our hours have been cut back, the cost of our health care premium just went up 30 percent, the credit card company just jacked up our interest rates 39 percent, and our home value has gone down by $100,000, our 401(k) is all banged up — and suddenly somebody calls up and says, so, how do you think President Obama is doing right now? (Laughter.) What are they going to say? What are they going to say? (Applause.)

Of course people are frustrated. And they have every right to be. And I know that during the course of this gathering, you know, some of the press have been running around, well, what do you think we should be doing and this and that and the other, you know, what’s the strategy.

Look, when unemployment is 9.7 percent, when we are still digging ourselves out of an extraordinary recession — people are going to be frustrated. And they’re going to be looking to the party in power to try to fix it. And when you’ve got another party that says, we don’t want to do anything about it — of course people are going to be frustrated.

Folks are out there working hard every day, trying to meet their responsibilities. But all around them during this last, “lost” decade, what they’ve seen is a wave of irresponsibility from Wall Street to Washington — they see a capital city where every day is treated like Election Day, and every act, every comment, every gesture passes through a political filter. They’ve seen the outsized influence of lobbyists and special interests, who too often hijack the agenda by leveraging campaign money and connections. Of course they wonder if their leaders can muster the will to overcome all of that and confront the real problems that touch their lives.

But here’s what everybody here has to remember: That’s why I ran for President. That’s why you worked so hard to elect a Democratic Congress. (Applause.) We knew this stuff was tough. But we stepped up because we decided we were going to take the responsibility of changing it. And it may not be easy, but change is coming. (Applause.)

I believe so strongly, I believe so strongly if we’re going to deal with the great challenges of our time; if we’re going to secure a better future just as past generations did for us; then we’re going to have to change the prevailing politics in this town, and it’s not going to be easy. We’re going to have to care less about scoring points and more about solving problems that are holding us back. (Applause.) At this defining moment, that’s never been more important.

We can continue, for example, to be consumed by the politics of energy. But we know that the nation that leads the clean energy revolution will lead the 21st century global economy. We know that a failure to act will put our planet in deeper peril. We know that China isn’t waiting and India isn’t waiting and Germany isn’t waiting to seize that future. And America can’t afford to wait, either. (Applause.) And I don’t intend to spend all my time taking polls to figure out whether we’re going to seize that future or not.

We can continue to spin our wheels with the old education debates; pitting teachers’ unions against reformers, and meanwhile our kids keep trailing their counterparts from South Korea to Singapore. But we know that the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. (Applause.) We know that kids who are consigned to failing schools today will be condemned to lifetimes of lower wages and unfulfilled dreams. America can’t afford to wait. And I’m not going to take a poll to figure out whether or not we’re going to tackle education.

We can continue to allow the same special interests who stacked the deck in favor of financial speculators in the last decade to block reform again in this decade. But if we’ve learned anything from the devastating recession, it’s that we know that wise regulation actually can enhance the market and make it more stable and make our economy work better. We can’t return to the dereliction of duty that helped deliver this recession. We know that to do so would be to put at risk our jobs, our families, our businesses, and our future. America can’t afford to wait, and we can’t look backwards.

And, yes, we could continue to ignore the growing burden of runaway costs of health care. The easiest thing to do right now would be to just say this is too hard; let’s just regroup and lick our wounds and try to hang on. We’ve had a long and difficult debate on health care. And there are some, maybe even the majority in this town, who say perhaps it’s time to walk away.
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But here’s the thing, Democrats. If we walk away, we know what will happen. We know that premiums and out-of-pocket expenses will skyrocket this decade, and the decade after that, and the decade after that, just as they did in the past decade. More small businesses will be priced out of coverage; more big businesses will be unable to compete internationally; more workers will take home less pay and fewer raises. We know that millions more Americans will lose their coverage; we know that our deficits will inexorably continue to grow because health care costs are the single biggest driver.

So just in case there’s any confusion out there, let me be clear. I am not going to walk away from health insurance reform. (Applause.) I’m not going to walk away from the American people. I’m not going to walk away on this challenge. I’m not going to walk away on any challenge. We’re moving forward. (Applause.) We are moving forward. (Applause.) Sometimes - sometimes we may be moving forward against the prevailing winds. Sometimes it may be against a blizzard. (Laughter.) But we’re going to live up to our responsibility to lead.

And I’m confident that if we stay steady, if we stay focused on all the people that we meet each and every day who are out there struggling, if we’ve got them in mind and we are working to deliver on their behalf, that in the end that’ll be good politics as well as good policy. It’ll be good for America, not just good for Democrats.

But in order to get any of these battles done, we’re going to have to change the way that Washington works. Now, we may not get a lot of attention for it, but we’ve actually already begun to do that. We’ve reined in the power of the special interests with the toughest ethics and transparency rules of any administration in the modern era. We’re the first White House ever to post our visitors online. We’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions. I’ve called on Congress to make all earmark requests public on one central website before they come up for a vote so that you know how the money is spent. We have — we’re going to have to confront the gaping loophole that the Supreme Court recently opened in our campaign finance laws — (applause) –that allows special interests to spend without limit to influence American elections.

We also said that as we worked to change the ways of Washington, we’d also change the way we do things as a party. This committee is the first to ban contributions from political action committees and lobbyists. And I’m pleased to see the recommendations submitted by the Change Commission aimed at improving our nominating process — because I believe that the more Americans that get involved in this party, the stronger this party will be. (Applause.)

And, yes, we need to change the way we work with the other party as well. Now, I’m proud to be a Democrat. I’m proud to be a leader of this great party. But I also know that we can’t solve all of our problems alone. So we need to extend our hands to the other side — we’ve been working on it — (laughter) — because if we’re going to change the ways of Washington, we’re going to have to change its tone.

Now, as a step in that direction, I went and visited with the House Republican Caucus last Friday. (Laughter and applause.) And we had a good — we had a good discussion about the challenges — we had a good discussion about the challenges facing the American people and our ideas to solve them. It was good for the country to see a robust debate. I had fun. (Laughter.)

And we have to acknowledge there are going to be some issues that Democrats and Republicans just don’t see eye to eye on, and that’s how it should be. That’s how our democracy works. But there have to be some issues on which we can find some common ground. It’s one thing to disagree out of principle; it’s another to simply stand in the way because of politics.

Now is not the time for sitting on the sidelines, or blocking progress, or pointing figures, or assigning blame. Now is not the time to do just what’s right for your party or your poll numbers. Now is the time to do what’s right for the country. Now is the time to do what’s necessary to see us through these difficult times. Now is the time to do everything in our power to keep the American Dream alive for the next generation.

And that’s our mission, Democrats.

I know we’ve gone through a tough year. But we’ve gone through tougher years. We’re the party of Thomas Jefferson, who declared that all men are created equal. And we had to work long and hard to ensure that those words meant something.

We’re the party of Franklin Roosevelt, who, in the midst of depression, said all we had to fear was fear itself; who saved freedom and democracy from being extinguished here on Earth. And that was hard because the natural impulse was to fear. But we as a party helped to lead the country out of that fear.

We’re the party of John F. Kennedy, who summoned us to serve; who called us to pay any price and bear any burden.
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And we’re the party of Edward M. Kennedy, whose cause endures; who said that here, in the United States of America, the promise of health care should not be a privilege, but a fundamental right.
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That is who we are, Democrats. (Applause.) That’s who we’ve got to be today. For all the stories we’ve heard, after all the campaigns we’ve waged, after all the promises we’ve made, this is our best chance to deliver change that the American people need. (Applause.)

And if we do that — if we speak to the hopes of the American people instead of their fears; if we inspire them instead of divide them; if we respond to their challenges with the same sense of urgency they feel in their own lives — we’re not just going to win elections — elections will take care of themselves — we will once again be the party that turns around the economy and moves this country forward, and secures the American Dream for another generation. (Applause.)

Thanks very much, everybody. God bless you.

Arkansas Disaster Declaration

President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of New Jersey and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by a snowstorm during the period of December 19-20, 2010.

Administration Appointments:

Chuck Close, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Fred Goldring, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Sheila Johnson, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Pamela Joyner, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Jhumpa Lahiri, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Ken Solomon, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

No Nominations Sent To The Senate

EVENTS

CIA Memorial Service

The President’s motorcade left the White House at 10:13 a.m. to travel to Langley, VA for a memorial service for the seven agency employees killed in Afghanistan late last year.

President Obama spoke of the country’s gratitude to the families. “Everything you instilled in them — the virtues of service and decency and duty — were on display that December day. That is what you gave them. That is what you gave to America. And our nation will be forever in your debt.” He told CIA officers that their “seven heroes” were at the vanguard of a mission vital to national security. “Let their sacrifice be a summons. To carry on their work. To complete this mission. To win this war, and to keep our country safe.”

CIA Director Leon E. Panetta paid tribute to the talent and accomplishments of the fallen, telling their loved ones that Agency officers “simply cannot do these jobs — we can’t do these jobs — without the love and support of our families.” He called the seven “genuine patriots” who “lived up to our highest principles,” and pledged that CIA would strive to be worthy of them.

Small Business

At 1:00, the President and SBA administrator, Karen Mills, met privately with small business representatives from Oasis Mechanical Contractors, Pizzaria Paradiso, and Potomac Riverboat Company at the Oasis location. In recognizing the 9.7% unemployment figure, the President said “These numbers, while positive, are a cause for hope, not celebration.” He reviewed the various job initiatives he’s proposed in the last week and announced two new proposals — legislation to allow small businesses to refinance their commercial mortgages through the SBA, and increases the cap on SBA Express loans.

PRESS

Statement from the President on House Passage of PAYGO

“I am pleased that the House of Representatives has passed statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) into law.

Statutory PAYGO would hold us to a simple but bedrock principle: Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. Mandatory spending increases and tax cuts must be paid for; they’re not free, and borrowing to finance them is not a sustainable long-term policy.

It is no coincidence that when we last had statutory PAYGO, during the 1990s, we turned deficits into surpluses. The passage of statutory PAYGO today will help usher out an era of irresponsibility and begin putting the country back on a fiscally sustainable path.”

Statement by the Press Secretary on the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland

President Obama will welcome Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Brian Cowen of Ireland to the White House on Wednesday, March 17. The United States and Ireland share strong bilateral relations, deep cultural ties, and a commitment to positive change in the world. The President appreciates the personal contributions and steadfast support of the Taoiseach and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown in support of the historic agreement achieved by Northern Ireland leaders today, which is an important step on the pathway to greater peace and prosperity for all communities on the island. The President looks forward to commemorating his second St. Patrick’s Day in the White House with the Taoiseach, a celebration which serves as a reminder of the shared history and close kinship between our two countries.

The President will also greet First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Northern Ireland at the White House on March 17 and discuss their progress toward meeting their shared commitments. 

On Sunday, the President and the First Lady will host a Super Bowl party at the White House. Attendees will include Members of Congress, Cabinet members, as well as service members who were injured in Iraq or Afghanistan and their families. A list of expected attendees is below.

Members of Congress:

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)

Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)

Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN)

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Cabinet Members:

Secretary Shaun Donovan

Secretary Arne Duncan

Attorney General Eric Holder

Administrator Lisa Jackson

Secretary Janet Napolitano

Ambassador Susan Rice

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary Eric Shinseki

Secretary Tom Vilsack

VICE PRESIDENT

Feb 5 – Feb 7, The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden will visit Beaver Creek, Colorado, with their family. There are no public events scheduled.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Please be seated.

Thank you so much. Heads of state, Cabinet members, my outstanding Vice President, members of Congress, religious leaders, distinguished guests, Admiral Mullen — it’s good to see all of you. Let me begin by acknowledging the co-chairs of this breakfast, Senators Isakson and Klobuchar, who embody the sense of fellowship at the heart of this gathering. They’re two of my favorite senators. Let me also acknowledge the director of my faith-based office, Joshua DuBois, who is here. Where’s Joshua? He’s out there somewhere. He’s doing great work. (Applause.)

I want to commend Secretary Hillary Clinton on her outstanding remarks, and her outstanding leadership at the State Department. She’s doing good every day. (Applause.) I’m especially pleased to see my dear friend, Prime Minister Zapatero, and I want him to relay America’s greetings to the people of Spain. And Johnny, you are right, I’m deeply blessed, and I thank God every day for being married to Michelle Obama. (Applause.)

I’m privileged to join you once again, as my predecessors have for over half a century. Like them, I come here to speak about the ways my faith informs who I am — as a President, and as a person. But I’m also here for the same reason that all of you are, for we all share a recognition — one as old as time — that a willingness to believe, an openness to grace, a commitment to prayer can bring sustenance to our lives.

There is, of course, a need for prayer even in times of joy and peace and prosperity. Perhaps especially in such times prayer is needed — to guard against pride and to guard against complacency. But rightly or wrongly, most of us are inclined to seek out the divine not in the moment when the Lord makes His face shine upon us, but in moments when God’s grace can seem farthest away.

Last month, God’s grace, God’s mercy, seemed far away from our neighbors in Haiti. And yet I believe that grace was not absent in the midst of tragedy. It was heard in prayers and hymns that broke the silence of an earthquake’s wake. It was witnessed among parishioners of churches that stood no more, a roadside congregation, holding bibles in their laps. It was felt in the presence of relief workers and medics; translators; servicemen and women, bringing water and food and aid to the injured.

One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world — Navy Corpsman Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: “Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,” she said, “I will pray for that country.” And in Creole, Corpsman Brossard responded, “Etazini.” The United States of America.

God’s grace, and the compassion and decency of the American people is expressed through the men and women like Corpsman Brossard. It’s expressed through the efforts of our Armed Forces, through the efforts of our entire government, through similar efforts from Spain and other countries around the world. It’s also, as Secretary Clinton said, expressed through multiple faith-based efforts. By evangelicals at World Relief. By the American Jewish World Service. By Hindu temples, and mainline Protestants, Catholic Relief Services, African American churches, the United Sikhs. By Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

It’s inspiring. This is what we do, as Americans, in times of trouble. We unite, recognizing that such crises call on all of us to act, recognizing that there but for the grace of God go I, recognizing that life’s most sacred responsibility — one affirmed, as Hillary said, by all of the world’s great religions — is to sacrifice something of ourselves for a person in need.

Sadly, though, that spirit is too often absent when tackling the long-term, but no less profound issues facing our country and the world. Too often, that spirit is missing without the spectacular tragedy, the 9/11 or the Katrina, the earthquake or the tsunami, that can shake us out of complacency. We become numb to the day-to-day crises, the slow-moving tragedies of children without food and men without shelter and families without health care. We become absorbed with our abstract arguments, our ideological disputes, our contests for power. And in this Tower of Babel, we lose the sound of God’s voice.

Now, for those of us here in Washington, let’s acknowledge that democracy has always been messy. Let’s not be overly nostalgic. (Laughter.)  Divisions are hardly new in this country. Arguments about the proper role of government, the relationship between liberty and equality, our obligations to our fellow citizens — these things have been with us since our founding. And I’m profoundly mindful that a loyal opposition, a vigorous back and forth, a skepticism of power, all of that is what makes our democracy work.

And we’ve seen actually some improvement in some circumstances. We haven’t seen any canings on the floor of the Senate any time recently. (Laughter.)  So we shouldn’t over-romanticize the past. But there is a sense that something is different now; that something is broken; that those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should. At times, it seems like we’re unable to listen to one another; to have at once a serious and civil debate. And this erosion of civility in the public square sows division and distrust among our citizens. It poisons the well of public opinion. It leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other. It makes politics an all-or-nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong when, in reality, neither side has a monopoly on truth. And then we lose sight of the children without food and the men without shelter and the families without health care.

Empowered by faith, consistently, prayerfully, we need to find our way back to civility. That begins with stepping out of our comfort zones in an effort to bridge divisions. We see that in many conservative pastors who are helping lead the way to fix our broken immigration system. It’s not what would be expected from them, and yet they recognize, in those immigrant families, the face of God. We see that in the evangelical leaders who are rallying their congregations to protect our planet. We see it in the increasing recognition among progressives that government can’t solve all of our problems, and that talking about values like responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage are integral to any anti-poverty agenda. Stretching out of our dogmas, our prescribed roles along the political spectrum, that can help us regain a sense of civility.

Civility also requires relearning how to disagree without being disagreeable; understanding, as President [Kennedy] said, that “civility is not a sign of weakness.” Now, I am the first to confess I am not always right. Michelle will testify to that. (Laughter.)  But surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith, or, for that matter, my citizenship. (Laughter and applause.)

Challenging each other’s ideas can renew our democracy. But when we challenge each other’s motives, it becomes harder to see what we hold in common. We forget that we share at some deep level the same dreams — even when we don’t share the same plans on how to fulfill them.

We may disagree about the best way to reform our health care system, but surely we can agree that no one ought to go broke when they get sick in the richest nation on Earth. We can take different approaches to ending inequality, but surely we can agree on the need to lift our children out of ignorance; to lift our neighbors from poverty. We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.

Surely we can agree to find common ground when possible, parting ways when necessary. But in doing so, let us be guided by our faith, and by prayer. For while prayer can buck us up when we are down, keep us calm in a storm; while prayer can stiffen our spines to surmount an obstacle — and I assure you I’m praying a lot these days — (laughter) — prayer can also do something else. It can touch our hearts with humility. It can fill us with a spirit of brotherhood. It can remind us that each of us are children of a awesome and loving God.

Through faith, but not through faith alone, we can unite people to serve the common good. And that’s why my Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has been working so hard since I announced it here last year. We’ve slashed red tape and built effective partnerships on a range of uses, from promoting fatherhood here at home to spearheading interfaith cooperation abroad. And through that office we’ve turned the faith-based initiative around to find common ground among people of all beliefs, allowing them to make an impact in a way that’s civil and respectful of difference and focused on what matters most.

It is this spirit of civility that we are called to take up when we leave here today. That’s what I’m praying for. I know in difficult times like these — when people are frustrated, when pundits start shouting and politicians start calling each other names — it can seem like a return to civility is not possible, like the very idea is a relic of some bygone era. The word itself seems quaint — civility.

But let us remember those who came before; those who believed in the brotherhood of man even when such a faith was tested. Remember Dr. Martin Luther King. Not long after an explosion ripped through his front porch, his wife and infant daughter inside, he rose to that pulpit in Montgomery and said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

In the eyes of those who denied his humanity, he saw the face of God.

Remember Abraham Lincoln. On the eve of the Civil War, with states seceding and forces gathering, with a nation divided half slave and half free, he rose to deliver his first Inaugural and said, “We are not enemies, but friends… Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”

Even in the eyes of confederate soldiers, he saw the face of God.

Remember William Wilberforce, whose Christian faith led him to seek slavery’s abolition in Britain; he was vilified, derided, attacked; but he called for :lessening prejudices [and] conciliating goodwill, and thereby making way for the less obstructed progress of truth.”

In the eyes of those who sought to silence a nation’s conscience, he saw the face of God.

Yes, there are crimes of conscience that call us to action. Yes, there are causes that move our hearts and offenses that stir our souls. But progress doesn’t come when we demonize opponents. It’s not born in righteous spite. Progress comes when we open our hearts, when we extend our hands, when we recognize our common humanity. Progress comes when we look into the eyes of another and see the face of God. That we might do so — that we will do so all the time, not just some of the time — is my fervent prayer for our nation and the world.

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

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. It is wonderful to see so many good friends. First of all, I want to thank Michele for the wonderful introduction and great story that she told. I want to thank Tim Kaine, who has been not only an outstanding leader for us but one of the best governors Virginia has ever had. Give Tim Kaine a big round of applause. (Applause.)

I understand we’ve got thousands of people online, so I just want to say to all the folks online, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. And I want all of you to know right off the bat how much I appreciate what each and every one of you has done — not just for me but for the country.

Many of you were on the front lines in our campaign — some of you from the very beginning, making phone calls and knocking on doors and trudging through the frozen fields of Iowa. (Applause.) You didn’t know the snow was moving this way. (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We can handle it!

THE PRESIDENT: We can handle it. You staked your reputation on some guy that nobody had ever heard of — couldn’t pronounce my name. Some of you got involved in a campaign for the very first time. In some cases, you just got involved for the first time in a very long time, because you believed that we were at a defining moment in our nation’s history; that your voice could make a difference. And not a single day goes by when I don’t think of the time, the energy, the money, the undying faith that you put into a campaign that wasn’t just about winning an election — it was about changing a country.

Last year, we asked you to take on something new. We asked you to help us make the promise of the campaign a reality. And I know how hard many of you have worked in your communities to do that, either as part of Organizing For America or simply by talking to your friends and neighbors, your coworkers. What you do matters. It’s made the successes of the last year possible.

It’s because of you that we were able to uphold the principle of equal pay for equal work. (Applause.) It’s because of you that we lifted the ban on stem cell research and began restoring science to its rightful place in America. (Applause.) It’s because of you that we extended the promise of health care to 4 million children who didn’t have it. (Applause.) It’s because of you that we passed the strongest veterans budget in decades. (Applause.) It’s because of you that we protected families from getting ripped off by credit card companies, and children from being targeted by big tobacco, and responsible consumers from the twin plagues of mortgage fraud and predatory lending. (Applause.)

We appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. (Applause.) We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy that’s giving young people and not-so-young people new ways to give back to their community. We’ve begun working with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country that they love because of who they are. (Applause.)

That’s what your support has helped us do here at home. Abroad, we’ve begun a new era of engagement. We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and seek a world free of them. We’re working with other nations to confront climate change. We banned torture. (Applause.) We’re rebuilding our military and reaffirming our alliances. We’ve begun to leave Iraq to its own people. (Applause.) We’ve charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we’ve made progress in taking the fight to al Qaeda across the globe. I went to Cairo on behalf of America to begin a new dialogue with the Muslim world. (Applause.) And we are living up to a moment that demands American leadership by standing tall alongside the people of Haiti. (Applause.)

So in ways large and small, we’ve begun to deliver on the change that you believed in. But the reason you and I are here tonight is because there’s so much more work to be done.

On the day I took office, we confronted a financial system on the brink of collapse, an economy bleeding 700,000 jobs per month, a $1.3 trillion deficit, and two wars that were costly in every sense of the word.

The solutions to these challenges wouldn’t be quick or easy, and sometimes they wouldn’t be popular. We knew that. But we decided that we were going to govern. We decided that we were going to lead. We didn’t have our finger out to the wind. We weren’t reading the polls every minute. We decided that we would begin a long and difficult journey to get this country back where it needs to be. (Applause.)

Because of the bold, swift, and coordinated action we took, we can stand here today and say we prevented another depression. We broke the back of the recession. The economy that was shrinking by 6 percent a year ago is now growing by 6 percent. (Applause.)

So the worst of the storm has passed, but all of you — from what you see in your own lives, what you see in your neighborhoods, what you see on the job — is that a lot of devastation remains. Many of you are seeing it in your own communities — shuttered businesses; foreclosed homes; friends, neighbors, family members who still can’t find work. And on top of all this, you’ve got the underlying challenges that middle-class families were dealing with for decades.

For two years, I traveled this country with you, and everywhere I went, I heard stories of folks who were trying their best to hold it all together while working harder and harder for less money. We heard families sitting around the kitchen table wondering if a secure retirement was even possible; if a college education was still achievable; if the climb of health care costs would ever stop. We heard people wondering if the dream that generations of Americans had built and defended was slowly slipping away.

Those are the stories that caused me to run for President of the United States. Those are the stories that led you to support me. Those are the stories that lead us to do every single thing that we can to create an economy that hasn’t just recovered but where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded; where businesses are hiring and wages are rising; where our middle class is getting stronger and feeling more secure.

Now, our most urgent task is job creation — that was our number one priority last year; it’s our number one priority this year. So we’ll give tax breaks and loans to small business to help them hire new workers and raise wages and invest in new plants and equipment. We’ll put even more Americans to work constructing clean energy facilities and upgrading our infrastructure for the future. We’ll create incentives for consumers to make their homes more energy efficient, creating jobs and saving families money. And it’s time that we put an end to tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas — (applause) — we need to give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the United States of America. (Applause.)

But the truth is, these steps alone won’t make up for the 7 million jobs that we’ve lost over the last two years. Those steps alone won’t make up for the economic security — insecurity that middle-class families have lost over the past decade. The only way to do that is to lay a new foundation for long-term economic growth. The only way to do that is to finally confront the problems that Washington has put off for too long, and that we’ve been talking about for decades.

Now, here’s the deal, though, folks. This is where change gets hard, when you start going after the real hard things that have been holding us back for so long. This is where we start running headlong into the lobbyists and the special interests; this is where the bitterness and misinformation that has come to characterize so much of our politics starts rearing its ugly head. I know some of you might feel discouraged because changing the ways of Washington is hard; it’s harder than a lot of you thought it might be. Sometimes it may make you feel like — that it’s not possible. You might want to give up.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We believe in you! (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Don’t give up. (Applause.) I don’t want you to feel discouraged. I want you to understand that it just means we got to push that much harder. (Applause.) It means that we’ve got to keep up the fight. The forces of the status quo may not give an inch, but we will not give an inch. (Applause.) Because we didn’t come this far to put things off; we didn’t come here to play it safe; we didn’t do all this work to take the easy road to get through the next election. That’s not why you elected me. You came here to solve problems — once and for all — for the next generation. (Applause.)

That begins by opening this government up to the people. We were the first White House ever to post all our visitors online. (Applause.) We excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions. (Applause.) I’ve called on Congress to make all earmark requests public on one central Web site before they come up for a vote so that you can see how your money is spent.

And even as we open up government, we also have to change its tone. And I won’t give up on that, either. (Applause.) The American people are right to be frustrated by a Washington where every single day is Election Day — it’s a place so absorbed with how each party is doing that it loses sight of how the American people are doing.

And that’s why I went and visited with the House Republican caucus last Friday. (Applause.) We had a good exchange, a good discussion about the challenges facing the American people, our ideas to solve them. We think it was good for the country. I had fun. (Laughter and applause.)

Now, look, obviously there’s some issues where we don’t agree. That’s okay. Vigorous debate is healthy. We’ll tussle from time to time. That’s what democracy is all about. But there’s some issues we do agree on. So I told my Republican friends I want to work together when we can — and I meant it. I believe that if we put a focus on solving problems instead of scoring political points, we can get a lot done together. (Applause.) I also made clear that I’m going to call them out if what they’re offering are political talking points that won’t solve problems. (Applause.) And I had to insist that we have to throw out that tired old playbook that says blocking everything is easier than actually delivering for the American people. Otherwise, we won’t move this country forward. (Applause.)

And ultimately, that’s why I’m here. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you joined this campaign. That’s why you’ve helped this past year. That’s why I need your help now. Because you know as well as anyone that change never comes without a fight. And we’ve got — we’ve got some fights to wage.

We’re going to keep fighting to spark innovation and ignite a clean energy sector where American workers are making solar panels and wind towers and cutting-edge batteries — (applause) — because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. (Applause.)

We’re going to keep fighting to give every American the best education possible. (Applause.) That’s why we launched the Race to the Top program, to make sure every school lives up to its potential so that every child lives up to their potential. That’s why we’re strengthening our community colleges. (Applause.)  That’s why we’re making higher education more affordable — because nobody should go broke because they chose to go to college. (Applause.)

That’s why we’re going to keep fighting for common-sense rules of the road for Wall Street. Look, let me be clear:  We need a strong financial sector. I want our banks to thrive in loaning money to businesses who are hiring workers and investing in plants and equipment and making things. Without a stable, strong financial sector, businesses can’t get the capital they need to grow and create jobs, and families can’t finance a home loan or education.

And the truth is, is that not every person on Wall Street was engaging in shenanigans. (Laughter.) Not all of them. And the truth is, is that the — I want to hear ideas about how we can strengthen the financial sector in a responsible way. But surely we can all agree that we have to ensure our economy is never again brought to its knees by outdated and inadequate financial rules or by the irresponsibility of the few. So we’re going to keep on fighting for that. (Applause.)

I would think this is going to be a bipartisan effort — I would think — because everybody has been harmed by what’s happened. And every voter out there — Democrat, Republican, independent — is furious about what happened. My hope would be that Washington would respond.

And, yes, we are going to keep fighting to fix a health system that too often works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people. (Applause.) Now, I — you heard me at the State of the Union — I didn’t take this on because it was good politics. I love how the pundits on these cable shows, they all announce, “Oh, boy, this was really tough politically for the President.”  Well, I’ve got my own pollsters, I know — (laughter) — I knew this was hard. I knew seven Presidents had failed. I knew seven Congresses hadn’t gotten it done. You don’t think I got warnings, “Don’t try to take this on?”  I got those back in December of last year.

So, yes, we knew this was hard. But I took it on because families were at the mercy of skyrocketing premiums, soaring out-of-pocket costs, insurance companies that routinely deny coverage because of preexisting conditions, or see their insurance dropped altogether because they get sick.

We took it on because costs were closing small businesses. They were keeping larger ones from competing on a level playing field. They were eating into workers’ take-home pay. They were canceling raises. We took it on because it’s the single best way to bring down our deficits. (Applause.)  By the way, nobody has disputed that. When I was before the Republican caucus, it was very clear. I said, look, you say you’re concerned about deficit reduction?  Nobody can dispute the fact that if we don’t tackle surging health care costs, that we can’t get control of our budget. And by the way, the approach that we put forward would reduce our deficit by as much as a trillion dollars over the next two decades.

We took it on because every single day, 15,000 Americans join the tens of millions who don’t have health insurance — and every single year, 18,000 Americans die because of it.

I got a letter — I got a note today from one of my staff — they forwarded it to me — from a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. She didn’t have insurance. She couldn’t afford it, so she had put off having the kind of exams that she needed. And she had fought a tough battle for four years. All through the campaign she was fighting it, but finally she succumbed to it. And she insisted she’s going to be buried in an Obama t-shirt. (Laughter.)

But think about this:  She was fighting that whole time not just to get me elected, not even to get herself health insurance, but because she understood that there were others coming behind her who were going to find themselves in the same situation and she didn’t want somebody else going through that same thing. (Applause.)  How can I say to her, “You know what?  We’re giving up”?  How can I say to her family, “This is too hard”?  How can Democrats on the Hill say, “This is politically too risky”?  How can Republicans on the Hill say, “We’re better off just blocking anything from happening”?

That can’t be the message that the American people are delivering. Yes, they’re nervous, they’re anxious, they’re in a tough time right now. The thing they want most are jobs. They really don’t like the process in Washington, the sausage-making. That part I understand. But I know that they don’t — but I know they don’t want to just offer nothing to the millions of people in America who are in the situation that that woman was in. That’s what we campaigned on. And we are going to keep on working to get it done — with Democrats and I hope with Republicans and everybody else in between — to bring down costs, to end the worst practices of the insurance industry, to finally give every American the chance to choose quality, affordable health care. We are going to keep on working to get it done. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

THE PRESIDENT: I am not going to walk away from these fights. And I know you won’t — because you didn’t before. You didn’t when folks were slamming doors in your faces — “Barama who?” (Laughter.) You didn’t quit when you heard voices saying we should scale back and throttle down and accept less. You remember that. When folks were saying our sights were set too high; that our faith in this country was misplaced; that our hope was naive; that you couldn’t change Washington; that you had to accommodate yourself to the political realities. You’ve all heard that. You didn’t listen to those voices then — your voice proved them wrong. You proved that nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices that are calling for change.

That is what you did. That’s what I’m asking you to do again now. And it’s even tougher now than it was, because governing, delivering for the American people, is harder than campaigning. It’s going to — and you guys -

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need campaign finance reform!

THE PRESIDENT: I heard you the first time, sister. (Laughter.) We’re fighting for that, too.

You guys, I just want to remind you, this is an extraordinary moment in our history. We have been given the opportunity to change our country for the better. That change begins with each of you in this room and all of you watching all across America. It begins when you refuse to settle for the status quo; when you reject the cynicism and the skepticism that we can no longer do big things in America; when you believe that people who love their country can change it — that’s how we’re going to finish what we started, because we do not back down, we don’t quit, I don’t quit. (Applause.)  I’m still fired up. I’m still ready to go. And it’s because of you. (Applause.)

Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: We don’t quit! We don’t quit! We don’t quit!

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Hello. Now, my understanding — everybody know Mitch?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

THE PRESIDENT: Mitch has I believe four questions that he has drawn from the list of questions that were sent from all across the country, and I’m going to try to answer them. So with that — Mitch.

MR. STEWART: Thank you, sir. Our first question comes, Mr. President, from one of OFA’s dedicated community organizers, Dream Gunther in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It’s a question that’s on a lot of folks’ minds within OFA and I think across the country:  How can we help pass health care reform, and what is the strategy to move it forward? (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: It is a good question. We are closer to a health care reform system that works for all Americans than we have ever been. Never before have you seen a bill pass through the House and then a bill pass through the Senate and where 90 percent of those bills — those two bills overlap. Democrats in the House and the Senate have been in discussions over the last several weeks to finalize a package that represents the best ideas of both the House and the Senate.

Here’s what we know will be in it:  It provides coverage to at least 30 million Americans who don’t have it. Many of those are small business owners or workers for small businesses. It creates an exchange, a marketplace, where people who don’t have health insurance or small businesses that want to get a better deal can pool their purchasing power and then negotiate with insurance companies to drive down costs and drive down premiums — the same way, by the way, that federal workers and members of Congress, by the way, and people who work for big companies are able to get a better deal because they’re part of a bigger pool.

It has insurance reforms that benefit everybody potentially who has health insurance or currently doesn’t have health insurance so that we put an end to, for example, the practice of not being able to get health insurance because of a preexisting condition. (Applause.)  We make sure that they can’t just drop you when you get sick and you need insurance the most.

 And we’ve got a whole series of measures for cost reductions in the health care system over the long term, by reducing waste and unnecessary tests that are duplicative and end up wasting money, by ensuring that there’s strong prevention funding so that children are getting regular checkups and they can go to see a doctor instead of going to the emergency room.

So — and by the way, all of it is paid for, and not only is it deficit-neutral but the Congressional Budget Office, which is the bipartisan office that’s the scorekeeper for how much things cost in Congress, says it’s going to reduce our costs by a trillion dollars.

Now, those two bills weren’t identical, so it was important for folks in both the House and the Senate to sit down and figure out what’s the final bill that the Democrats believe in and want to move forward. The next step is what I announced at the State of the Union, which is to call on our Republican friends to present their ideas. What I’d like to do is have a meeting whereby I’m sitting with the Republicans, sitting with the Democrats, sitting with health care experts, and let’s just go through these bills — their ideas, our ideas — let’s walk through them in a methodical way so that the American people can see and compare what makes the most sense.

And then I think that we’ve got to go ahead and move forward on a vote. We’ve got to move forward on a vote. (Applause.) But as I said at the State of the Union, I think we should be very deliberate, take our time. We’re going to be moving a jobs package forward over the next several weeks; that’s the thing that’s most urgent right now in the minds of Americans all across the country. And that will allow everybody to get the real facts, both about the health care crisis that we face, why it’s so important for deficit reduction, why it’s so important for families all across the country. It allows us to see are there, in fact, some better ideas out there?

When I was at the Republican caucus somebody told me they had an idea to provide universal coverage and it wouldn’t cost anything. (Laughter.)  Which — I thought, that’s great; I want to see that. Now, I did say I want to make sure that’s there are some independent health care experts and economists and doctors who would confirm this. But if they can confirm it, why wouldn’t I want to take that — I wish I’d thought of that before. (Laughter.)

But here’s the key, is to not let the moment slip away. (Applause.)  And I have to say — I have to say part of what makes health care so hard, and why we are the only advanced nation on Earth that doesn’t have some form of universal health care, is because even when the system doesn’t work people still want to kind of cling on to the devil they know because they’re worried about the devil they don’t. It’s very easy to scare folks. I mean, if you go out there right now and you ask the average person — and some of you have done this, talked to your friends, talked to your neighbors — they’re certain that they would have to go into a government plan, which isn’t true, but that’s still a perception a lot of people have. They’re still pretty sure that they’d have to give up their doctor. They’re still pretty sure that if they’re happy with their health care plan that it’s bad for them. They’re still positive that this is going to add to the deficit.

So there’s a lot of information out there that people understandably are concerned about. And that’s why I think it’s very important for us to have a methodical, open process over the next several weeks, and then let’s go ahead and make a decision. And it may be that — you know, if Congress decides — if Congress decides we’re not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not. And that’s how democracy works. There will be elections coming up and they’ll be able to make a determination and register their concerns one way or the other during election time. All right?  (Applause.)

MR. STEWART: Mr. President, the second question comes to us via email from El Paso, Texas. Rebecca Harris writes, “What can be done to get money to small businesses?  I keep hearing that banks are still not loaning because of lack of confidence. Do smaller banks have the ability to get money with the stipulation that they loan it out so that we can get the economy moving again?”

THE PRESIDENT: This is a really important question. I’ve been traveling a lot lately doing town hall meetings and then talking to small business owners as I’m traveling around the country. And everywhere I go, I hear the same thing, which is, “We feel like the economy is starting to improve and we’re starting to get orders again. We want to expand, or we need to replenish our inventory, or we are interested in maybe hiring another two or three workers because we can’t just keep on putting all our current workers on overtime.”  So they’re on the brink of wanting to expand, move, hire, but what they’re saying is, we still can’t get financing.

Now, credit is now available for the biggest companies, and they are actually starting to make investments. Every indicator out there is that the economy, across the board, including in manufacturing, is starting to make investments again.

But the big companies may be able to get credit; small companies still can’t. And when you talk to the smaller banks what they’ll say is, well, on the one hand the regulators are looking over our shoulder. They used to say it was fine for us to make these loans. Now, they’re saying we shouldn’t.

So that’s one concern, and another concern is some of them still have pretty tough liabilities on their books because a lot of them lent into commercial real estate or other loans that they’re not sure are going to get repaid.

So what we’ve done is twofold. One is we’ve said how can we get some money directly out there through the Small Business Administration, and we’ve ramped up lending through the Small Business Administration by 70 percent and we have eliminated fees and we have increased guarantees — (applause) — so that you’re seeing a huge increase in the volume of small business loans.

The problem is the SBA can’t cover all the need out there. And there are 30,000 community banks out there that are serving their communities and small businesses, so we’ve got to get money to them. That’s why what we’ve said is, let’s get $30 billion that’s been repaid as a consequence of the big banks getting well and having to repay their TARP money — let’s take that money and set up a fund whereby we can start lending that money through small banks.

Now, the last thing I’d say is — I was asked is there a way of stipulating that this will go to particular loans. We don’t want the government to be in the business of saying you have to give this loan or deny that loan, because we’re not on the ground and we can’t review each and every one of those loans. But we are very confident that the most efficient way for us to get money to small businesses is to make sure that the community banks are getting these financing facilities that allow them to get money out. And if they do, we think that that’s going to be a major job creator right now. (Applause.)

MR. STEWART: Mr. President, as you might know, Gen44 is the newest program at the DNC aimed at empowering young leadership across this country. A Gen44 member, Eric Casher (phonetic), sent along our third question:  “As young people, we’ve always been taught that America leads the world, both by the strength of our ideals and the might of our economy. We’re frustrated and worried, though, that other nations — in particular, China — are moving ahead of the U.S. in investing in new industries to create the jobs of the 21st century. What are you doing, and what can we do, to make sure we’re not left behind?”

 THE PRESIDENT: Well, I had lunch with some corporate CEOs — big companies — we want to increase exports, we want to start selling overseas. We’ve been an economy that just is consuming — that’s not good for our long-term economic growth. We want to produce and sell. So I talked to them about this, and every one of them was concerned about us falling behind in some key areas relative not just to China, but countries like South Korea and other Asian countries; in some cases, in some sectors, European countries.

Number one, we have to revamp our education system. That’s why I’m so proud of what we’ve done with — (applause) — that’s why I’m so proud with what we’ve done with Race to the Top. We want to reward excellence.

Now, the federal government doesn’t provide the majority of funding for schools. Mostly it comes from local school districts. But the money that we do give, let’s make sure we’re incentivizing best practices, getting the best teachers in front of the classroom, making sure that we’ve got the best data on how to improve school performance, making sure that we’re targeting some of those low-performing schools, because we can’t just look at the schools that are in the middle — we’ve got to bring schools that are at the bottom up to snuff because that’s going to be our future workforce. So that’s number one.

That includes, by the way, making sure that we meet our 2020 goal of once again having the highest rate of college graduation in the world. (Applause.) We used to be number one. We’re not number one any longer. We’ve got to produce more math and science graduates. Those are all going to be top priorities.

The second thing: Everybody sees energy as a prime source of growth in the future, and we’re already slipping behind. We’re slipping behind in some traditional industries like the nuclear industry. That I think is a mistake. If you care about greenhouse gases, we’ve got to look at a safe and secure nuclear industry.

But we have to look at new, alternative energy sources of the future. And I’m proud that the Recovery Act gave the biggest investment of clean energy — made the biggest investment of clean energy both in research and development but also actual construction and commercial application in history. (Applause)

And we’ve got to build on that investment from last year. We’ve got to push hard this year so that we are once again the leaders in solar and wind and high-efficiency batteries that can lead to the plug-in automobiles of the future.

We’ve got to finally set up an infrastructure that spurs on that kind of long-term growth. And that means having a smart electricity grid that can take all that good energy from solar and wind and take it from a place like South Dakota down to Chicago, into a garage, where somebody is then plugging in that plug-in hybrid that’s getting 150 miles per gallon of gas, which will lead us to energy independence; it will lead to jobs right here in the United States of America. (Applause.) But it requires leadership and it requires us to build for the future and not just look backwards.

And the most important thing right now I think for our economic growth is for the American people to feel confident about our future. You know, we’ve gone through these periods before. Some of you are old enough — not all of you — but remember back in the ’80s how everybody was saying, oh, Japan is taking over and they’re buying everything here and we’re on decline? This happens periodically, every 30, 40 years or so, maybe every 25. Suddenly everybody announces, oh, America is on decline, and there’s some new competitor out there. It was Japan; now it’s China.

We have the best workers in the world, we got the best universities in the world — (applause) — we’ve got the most dynamic economy in the world, but we can’t be afraid of the future. And we’ve got to have a government, a political system, that works — not as an impediment to business, but one that works to lay the conditions for business success. That’s how we grew in the past. We built an interstate railroad system that was not just done on its own. We built an Interstate Highway System; that wasn’t — that didn’t just happen overnight. The Internet didn’t just, you know, suddenly appear.

Those were all investments in which government helped to seed and catalyze growth, and then it moved forward. And that’s what we’ve got to do today. (Applause.)

All right, last question.

MR. STEWART: Last question, sir, comes from an OFA community organizer, Brandon Furry (phonetic), in southern California. Brandon writes:  “I’m a 28-year-old volunteer with OFA. Even with a full-tuition scholarship I had to work three part-time jobs. I barely could afford food and had little time to study. As my grades started to drop I decided to drop out rather than ruin my hopes of doing well in school. I would like to go back to school full-time. How are you going to help people like me to make it easier to go back to school and make a lasting contribution to our country?”

THE PRESIDENT: Here’s what we’ve already done:  We’ve significantly increased Pell grants, made them more accessible to more people, and increased the level so that they would actually pay for a community college education or a four-year college education. The next step is to relieve the burden that so many young people are feeling in terms of the amount of debt that they’re taking out just to go to school.

So what we’ve said is this — and there’s legislation pending right now that we want to get passed this year that says to every young person in America, you go to college, you will not have to pay more than 10 percent of your income in repaying student loans. So you are assured not to go broke — (applause) — you will not go broke when you choose to go to college. Not only that, after 20 years — assuming you’ve been making regular payments — your debt is forgiven. (Applause.) And if you go into public service, if you’re a teacher or a firefighter or some other — or you’re working for NASA or any other — any other public service out there, then we will see your loans forgiven after 10 years — (applause) — because you’re probably not going to be making as much money.

Not only is the legislation pending, but we know how it can be paid for, which is to stop providing subsidies to banks and financial institutions that are serving as middlemen on student loans. (Applause.) Let’s have those loans go directly to the students. That will save us billions of dollars; that will pay for every single dime of the program that I just talked about. That’s the kind of change you can believe in. That’s what we’ve got to do, but I’m going to need all of you to work.

 Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.)

I want to thank three people who are just extraordinarily important to the project of rebuilding our country and have just been great friends of mine, great friends of the Democratic Party. You already heard from one — please give it up for Governor Tim Kaine. (Applause.) Our DNC finance chair, Jane Stetson, who’s racking up a lot of frequent flier miles. (Applause.) And Andy Tobias, our DNC treasurer — hey, Andy. (Applause.)

It is great to see all of you here tonight, wonderful to see so many good friends, many of you who were there from the beginning of this campaign. And I want you to all know that I appreciate everything that you’ve done — not just for the campaign, but also what you’ve done for the country and what you’ve done for the party.

Many of you were invested in this campaign at the very beginning when nobody could pronounce my name. (Laughter.) And you’d tell your friends, there’s this young guy, I really think he’s got something. “What’s his name?” Barack Obama? (Laughter.) Yeah. So you had to confront a lot of skepticism, a lot of confusion. Some of you were involved in a campaign for the first time, and some of you got involved for the very first time in a very long time — because you believed that we were in a defining moment in our history and that your voice could make a difference.

Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about all the time and the energy, the money, the commitment, the unyielding faith that you put into our campaign — because it wasn’t just about winning an election; it was about changing a country.

Last year, we asked you to take on something new. We asked you to help us keep the promises that we made in the campaign — help to bring about the changes that we had talked about together. And a lot of you have worked hard to do that. You’ve continued to be engaged in education policy, in foreign policy, and helping us at a grassroots level, and continuing to finance our ability to get our message out. And it matters. It’s made the successes of the last year possible.

Sometimes I think we got so many things done so quick that people forgot. But let’s just think about this. We upheld the principle of equal pay for equal work. (Applause.)  We lifted the ban on stem cell research and restored science to its rightful place in America. (Applause.)  We provided health care to 4 million children who now have it who didn’t have it before. (Applause.)  We passed the strongest veterans budget in decades. We protected families from getting ripped off by credit card companies, and children from being targeted by big tobacco, and helped consumers deal with the twin plagues of mortgage fraud and predatory lending.

We appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. (Applause.)  We passed a service bill named for Ted Kennedy that’s giving young and old a chance to serve their country and their communities. (Applause.)  We’re working with Congress to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. (Applause.)

Oh, and by the way, and in the meantime, we prevented the worst financial crisis from getting even worse — (applause) — turned the economy from contraction to expansion; made the largest investment in clean energy in history; the largest investment in education in decades. (Applause.)  Expanded the Pell Grant program; dealt with a H1N1 virus on the side.

That’s what your support has helped us do at home. Abroad, we’ve begun a new era of engagement. We’re working with our partners to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, seeking a world free of them. We’re working with other nations to confront climate change. We are now a leader and not a follower in that critical mission. (Applause.)  We banned torture. We’re rebuilding our military. We’re reaffirming our alliances. We’ve begun to leave Iraq to its own people, as I committed to doing in the campaign. (Applause.)  And we’ve charted a new way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’re making progress every single day in taking the fight to al Qaeda and across the globe.

And I went to Cairo on behalf of the American people to begin a new dialogue with the Muslim world. (Applause.)  We’re living up to our obligations as a wealthy nation, helping to promote food security around the world, helping to deal with diseases around the world. We’re living up to a moment that demands American leadership by standing with the people of Haiti as we speak. (Applause.)

So in ways large and small, we’ve begun to deliver on the change that we talked about, the change that you believed in and that you campaigned hard for. But the reason that you and I are here tonight is because we’re not done. We’ve got a lot more work to do.

As I said, the day we took office we confronted a financial system on the verge of collapse; we were losing 700,000 jobs per month; a $1.3 trillion deficit; two wars that, frankly, had not been paid for and were costly in every sense of the word. A lot of the solutions we proposed, the decisions we took, they weren’t quick, they weren’t easy, and they weren’t popular. But we decided we were going to go govern. We were going to put politicking on hold to get this country out of the mess it was in.

I mentioned this to a group I spoke to earlier. You know, pundits act surprised about the fact that we spent so much political capital. Well, you know, I didn’t get elected to play it safe. And I didn’t govern, and I don’t govern by checking the polls every few days. I know that’s the habit in Washington, but that’s not the obligation I owe the American people; that’s not the promise I made to you. And because we took bold and swift and coordinated action, we can stand here today and say we averted another depression. We broke the back of the recession. The economy is growing again.

So the worst of the storm has passed. But, as all of you know, the devastation remains. We’ve got 10 percent unemployment. Many of you watching at home, as you go around the country and your individual communities, you see the stores shuttered and the foreclosed businesses; friends and neighbors, family members who still can’t find work. This is on top of a decade that had been tough for middle-class families all across the country. They hadn’t seen their incomes go up in years. Their costs skyrocketing at the same time as their wages were stagnant.

For two years I heard stories, all across the country, everywhere I go. I heard stories about people trying their best to hold on; a family sitting around the kitchen table wondering if they were going to be able to retire on schedule; if they were going to be able to finance a college education for their kids; wondering when would health care costs stop climbing, when would their premiums start stabilizing. People started expressing doubts about whether the dream that generations built and defended — the American Dream — was slipping away.

That’s the reason I ran for President. That’s the reason you supported me. And that’s why we are going to continue to do everything we can to create an economy that hasn’t just recovered back to the status quo, but an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded; and where businesses are hiring and wages are rising; and where our middle class is getting stronger and more secure.

Now, our most urgent task is job creation — that was our number-one priority last year and our number-one priority this year. And the first task was to make sure the economy is growing. It is growing. But we’ve got to do more. So we’re going to give tax breaks and loans to small businesses to help them hire new workers, and raise wages, and invest in new plants and equipment. We’re going to put even more Americans to work on clean energy facilities and upgrading our infrastructure to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

We’re going to create incentives for consumers to make their homes more energy-efficient, creating jobs and saving families money. And we’re going to look at our tax code, because it’s time we ended practices like giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas instead of investing in companies that are creating jobs right here in the United States of America.

But the truth is, these steps alone won’t make up for 7 million jobs that have been lost over the last two years. They’re not going to, alone, provide the economic security that’s been dwindling for middle-class families over the last decade. The only way we do that is to lay a strong foundation for growth, over the long term. And the things that we talked about during the campaign are the things that still need to be done. They’ve been put off by Washington for too long.

And this is where change gets hard. Change is easy if you’re just talking about tinkering around the edges. Change is harder when you actually dig in and try to deal with the structural problems that have impeded our progress for too long. This is where we run headlong into the lobbyists and the special interests, and the bitterness and misinformation that characterizes so much of our politics — which means that some of you may be feeling discouraged, because it feels like things have taken longer than you might have expected.

Well, don’t be discouraged. I’m not discouraged. I knew this was going to take a long time, but I knew the fight was worth it. And we’ve got to keep up on this fight. The forces of the status quo, they may not give an inch, but I don’t give an inch either. And you shouldn’t give an inch either. (Applause.) We didn’t come this far to put things off, or to play it safe, or to take the easy road. That wasn’t why we were elected. We came here to solve problems — for the next generation, not for the next election.

That means opening up this government to the people. That’s why we post all our visitors online. That’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs and seats on boards and commissions. That’s why I’ve called on Congress to put their earmark online so everybody can see what’s going on. That’s part of the change that we promised.

We’ve got to change the tone of government and politics here in Washington and all across America. I’m not going to give up on that either. You know, the American people are right to be frustrated about a Washington where every day is Election Day — and the basic theory is, “If you lose I win.”  Where we’re not measuring success by what we’re doing for the American people, but how we look in the latest Gallup. No wonder people are frustrated.

That’s why I went to the House Republican caucus the other day. We had a good discussion — (laughter) — about the challenges that are facing the American people, our ideas to solve them. That was good for the country. It’s good for our democracy. I had fun.

Now, there are some issues that Democrats and Republicans aren’t going to agree on, and that’s okay. Vigorous debate is healthy. We’re going to tussle from time to time. And you know what — there may be some issues that we do agree on, or at least we say we agree on. And we have to test whether or not people are serious. So I told my Republican friends I want to work together with them where I can — and I meant it. Because I don’t want to just score political points. I’ve got time to campaign down the road. In the meantime, there’s a lot of work that we’ve got to get done together. And we can get a lot done together.

And I told then I will also call them out if they say they want to work on something and then when I offer a hand I get nothing in return. The American people have to understand that. The old playbook of just blocking everything — I understand that’s easier than actually doing something, and sometimes it may be more politically effective. But that’s not what’s going to move our country forward.

That’s why I’m here. That’s why you joined our campaign. That’s what you’ve helped deliver over the last year. That’s why I need your help now. That’s why Tim and everybody in the party needs your help now. Because you know as well as anyone that change doesn’t come without a fight. We’ve got some fights to wage. We’ve got some fights to make sure that we’re sparking innovation and igniting a clean energy sector where American workers are making solar panels and wind towers and cutting-edge batteries for the new plug-in hybrid, that leads on clean energy  — because the economy that leads on clean energy I believe is going to lead the global economy. And I want America to be that nation. (Applause.)

We’re going to keep fighting to make sure that America has the best education possible for every child. And we’re going to reward success through our Race to the Top program. We want every child to meet their potential, and that’s why we’re going to make sure that young people all across America can afford college without going broke. (Applause.)  That’s a priority. We can do that. And we can do it this year.

We’re going to keep fighting for common-sense rules of the road for Wall Street. I want to be clear — there’s a lot of talk about Wall Street, Main Street — we need a financial sector that works. That’s a priority. We need businesses that are thriving, and they’ve got to raise capital; that will help them hire workers. So there’s no separation between our financial system and the real economy. That’s part of what this crisis has reminded us. But we’ve got to ensure that our economy isn’t brought to its knees by outdated and antiquated financial rules and the irresponsibility of a few.

And that’s why I expect Democrats and Republicans to want to make sure that we don’t find ourselves in this same situation again. That’s why we have to have financial regulatory reform. And, yes, that is why we’re going to fix the health care system  — (applause) — a health care system that too often works for insurance companies better than it does for individual Americans.

And again, I didn’t take this on because it was easy. I got David Axelrod — he does all the polls. He whispers in my ear, man, this health care thing is hard. (Laughter.)  I am a amateur historian, so I know that seven Presidents starting with Teddy Roosevelt couldn’t get this done. We understood this was going to be hard.

But I took it on not for its political value; I took it on because families are dealing with skyrocketing premiums and skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs, and insurance companies that routinely deny coverage because of preexisting conditions — or drop people altogether when they get sick. We took it on because the costs were killing small businesses, and creating an uneven playing field for our international companies, and it was eating into workers’ take-home pay and canceling raises. And we took it on because it’s the single best way — in fact, the only way — that we are actually going to get control of our federal budget.

So when I hear “deficit hawks” out there who say they want to control the federal budget and aren’t willing to do a darn thing about the skyrocketing costs of health care, I get a sense they’re not entirely on the level. Because our proposal for health care reform, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would bring it down by $1 trillion over the next two decades. And even in Washington that’s a lot of money. (Applause.) 

I took it on because every single day, 15,000 Americans join the tens of millions who don’t have health insurance — and 18 million — 18,000 Americans die because of the lack of health insurance.

That’s what we campaigned on. That’s what we’re working to get it done — with Democrats and with independents and with Republicans. We want to bring down costs and end the worst insurance practices, and finally give every American a chance to have the security of quality, affordable health care.

I am not going to walk away from those fights. And I don’t expect you will either. You’ve come this far. The odds were a lot less that I’d ever be standing here than they are that we can solve some of these big problems. I mean, think about it. Tim was — (applause) — when Tim endorsed me in Richmond, first endorsement I got outside of Illinois of any elected official — here he is, newly minted governor for the Commonwealth of Virginia — there was one thing that was clear, and that is he was term-limited. (Laughter.)

But don’t you guys — you remember this. Nobody gave us a chance. This campaign was declared dead — what — 10 times. (Laughter.)  You know, the same folks who are now writing about what next, and what’s happened to the Obama — these are the same folks who were writing about how he doesn’t stand a chance; how after New Hampshire, that was it. After Pennsylvania, that was it. Right?  We went through this. And they were saying your faith was misplaced and you set your sights to high, and your hope is naïve, and Washington won’t change. And now all of them are feeling like, see, we told you, Washington doesn’t change. And they’re feeling kind of self-satisfied about the fact that we haven’t yet gotten health care done.

Well, let me tell you something. You didn’t listen to those voices then. Your voice proved them wrong. You proved that nothing can stop the power of millions of people who want to see an America that’s living up to its values and its ideals. That’s what you did. And that’s what I’m asking you to do again. (Applause.)

This is an extraordinary moment. I want to remind you we don’t quit. And I don’t quit. (Applause.)  And we are going to bring about the changes that you believe in and I believe in, and that ultimately will help our children and grandchildren believe as they grow up — an America in which everybody has got a decent shot at life; in which we’re leading in innovation; in which we’re proud of our foreign policy.

That’s what we were fighting for then. That’s what we’re fighting for now. We’ve taken some good steps. We got many miles to go on this journey. I hope you join me.

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.)

Arkansas Disaster Declaration

President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of North Carolina and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storms and flooding during the period of December 23, 2009 - January 2, 2010. 

Administration Appointments:

Council of Governors, To Work with Homeland Security and Defense
Governor James H. Douglas, Co-Chair, Council of Governors
Governor Chris Gregoire, Co-Chair, Council of Governors
Governor Janice K. Brewer, Member, Council of Governors
Governor Luis G. Fortuño, Member, Council of Governors
Governor Brad Henry, Member, Council of Governors
Governor Robert F. McDonnell, Member, Council of Governors
Governor Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Member, Council of Governors
Governor Martin O’Malley, Member, Council of Governors
Governor Beverly Eaves Perdue, Member, Council of Governors
Governor M. Michael Rounds, Member, Council of Governors

Nominations Sent To The Senate:

Daryl J. Boness, of Maine, to be a Member of the Marine Mammal Commission for a term expiring May 13, 2013. (Reappointment)

Larry Robinson, of Hawaii, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, vice William J. Brennan, resigned.
Myles Watts, Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation

Elizabeth Erny Foote: Nominee for the United States District Court, Western District of Louisiana

Mark A. Goldsmith: Nominee for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Mark A. Goldsmith: Nominee for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Josephine Staton Tucker: Nominee for the United States District Court, Central District of California

David Fein, US Attorney District of Columbia

Timothy Purdon, US Attorney North Dakota

Scott Parker: Nominee for United States Marshal, Eastern District of North Carolina
Clifton Massanelli: Nominee for United States Marshal, Eastern District of Arkansas

Gerald S. Holt: Nominee for United States Marshal, Western District of Virginia

Kerry Forestal: Nominee for United States Marshal, Southern District of Indiana

Loren Carl: Nominee for United States Marshal, Eastern District of Kentucky

EVENTS

National Prayer Breakfast.

Just before 8:00, the President’s motorcade departed for the Washington Hilton ballroom and joined VP Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, Sens. Orrin Hatch, Ron Wyden, Johnny Isakson and Amy Klobuchar; Rep. Charlie Wilson, Todd Akin and Tim Tebow. Also in attendance at the event, although not at the Headtable, was Gov Mark Sanford.

Lunch With Business Leaders

The President held the 5^{th such lunch to discuss economic issues with large businesses. Guests included Tom Wilson of Allstate Corp; Ken Chenault of American Express, John Chambers of Cisco Systems; Frederick Smith of FedEx; Ken Powell of General Mills; William Weldon of Johnson & Johnson; David Mackay of Kellogg; Steve Ballmer of Microsoft; Richard Dugas of Pulte Homes; and Jeffrey Bewkes of Time Warner.“Conversation with the President”, prior to the DNC fundraiser reception. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine introduced the President at the fundraiser just after 6:00 pm. About 700 people attended the Hilton event; tickets were between $100- $1,000 per person.}

Organizing for America hosted an online Q&A event,
The “ask” at the second fundraiser dinner was $30,400 per couple. About 140 people attended, including Dikembe Mutombo, who is now raising money to build hospitals in the Congo. This event began just after 8:00, at the Natl Museum of Women in the Arts. The President spoke for about 15 minutes, receiving applause when talking about clean energy production, college affordability, health care reform.

PRESS

Statement from the President on House Passage of PAYGO

“I am pleased that the House of Representatives has passed statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) into law.

Statutory PAYGO would hold us to a simple but bedrock principle: Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. Mandatory spending increases and tax cuts must be paid for; they’re not free, and borrowing to finance them is not a sustainable long-term policy.

It is no coincidence that when we last had statutory PAYGO, during the 1990s, we turned deficits into surpluses. The passage of statutory PAYGO today will help usher out an era of irresponsibility and begin putting the country back on a fiscally sustainable path.”

VICE PRESIDENT

In the morning, the Vice President attended National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton.

The Vice President swore in Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts at the United States Capitol.

THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT met with Secretary of State Clinton at 6:00 pm.

Yesterday, the Vice President met with Gianfranco Fini, the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. They affirmed the strong friendship and cooperation between the United States and Italy. The Vice President and President Fini also discussed the need for strong international cooperation to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability and discussed ways to deepen cooperation in the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

LETTER TO CONGRESS Advising of
Removal of North Koreas As Sponsor of Terrorism

In part: “I am providing a classified report prepared by my Administration. This report includes information on our examination of the conduct of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from June 26, 2008, through November 16, 2009, and concludes that the DPRK does not meet the statutory criteria to again be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.”

INDIA NUCLEAR SAFEGUARDS AGREEMENT

No. 2010-04

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

I hereby determine and certify that:

1. The Agreement between the Government of India and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities, as approved by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency on August 1, 2008 (the “Safeguards Agreement”), has entered into force; and

2. The Government of India has filed a declaration of facilities pursuant to paragraph 13 of the Safeguards Agreement that is not materially inconsistent with the facilities and schedule described in paragraph 14 of the Separation Plan presented in the national parliament of India on May 11, 2006, taking into account the later initiation of safeguards than was anticipated in the Separation Plan. You are authorized and directed to publish this determination in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT ON NATIONAL GIRLS & WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY

National Girls & Women in Sports Day is a time for us all to commemorate the participation of  women and girls in sports and athletics – and celebrate their achievements. Women compete at all levels today, in large part due to the foundation laid by Title IX, which has done much to advance the number of women taking part in collegiate athletic programs and has increased access to the classroom. Today, as we celebrate, we must also recognize that more needs to be done and we should recommit ourselves to achieving true equality for all.

EVENTS

The President’s motorcade drove through snow flurries down Pennsylvania Avenue and arrived at the rear entrance of the Newseum around 10:00 am. The President spoke to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Issues Conference, remarks here, and then took questions from the eight Senators facing tough challenges in November.

GOVERNORS ENERGY MEETINGS At a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country, the President laid out three measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production. Obama said they will be implementing the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022, reported a new proposal to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy, and unveiled a strategy to advance the development and commercialization of a sustainable biofuels industry.

On Thursday morning, the President, First Lady and Vice President will attend the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton.

VICE PRESIDENT

11:00 Recovery Act Implementation Cabinet Meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

2:00 Attended Governors meeting with President, remarks here.

E.J. Dionne released interview from Tuesday afternoon, wherein the Vice President gets riled up when asked about America being in 2nd place, which Biden calls “ridiculous”. “Give me a break. So many people have bet on our demise that it absolutely drives me crazy. . . . There’s sort of an attitude that is both politically directed by our Republican friends but also believed by a fair number of people that we just can’t make this transition in the 21st century.”

FIRST LADY

AN INTERVIEW of The First Lady was televised on The Today show this morning, where she discussed everything from being on a “hot” list in Maxxim to a dinner table tradition of sharing the day’s “thorns and roses”. When asked by Matt Lauer whether she would be a reserved First Lady like Laura Bush, or more involved and controversial like Hillary Clinton, she responded that she would “just like to help”. Click Here for more of this great interview.

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCED Members of The Committee for the Preservation of the White House, created in 1964 by Executive Order. The Committee advises the President, the First Lady, and the Director of the National Park Service on preserving the museum quality of the public spaces of the White House. Their work will include preservation and interpretation as well as advising on additions to the permanent White House collection of fine art and decorative arts objects.

First Lady Michelle Obama said, “One of our priorities has been to open the doors of the White House, invite more visitors in and truly make it the ‘People’s House’. When people come here for public tours and events, we want them to have a truly educational and enjoyable experience. As a partner in this effort, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House will advise us on what modifications and acquisitions need to be made so that the White House remains an historically accurate, open, living museum.”

President Obama said, “I’m grateful that such a diverse and accomplished group of people have agreed to devote their talents to ensuring that the White House provides an inspirational and enlightening experience for its visitors.”

At a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country, the President laid out three measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production. Obama said they will be implementing the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022, reported a new proposal to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy, and unveiled a strategy to advance the development and commercialization of a sustainable biofuels industry.

President Obama said, “Now, I happen to believe that we should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. It will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, and the decision by other nations to do this is already giving their businesses a leg up on developing clean energy jobs and technologies. ”

Background on today’s announcements: 

Renewable Fuels Standard.

EPA has finalized a rule implementing the long-term renewable fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress. The Renewable Fuels Standard requires biofuels production to grow from last year’s 11.1 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022, with 21 billion gallons to come from advanced biofuels. Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on oil by more than 328 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than 138 million metric tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. For the first time, some renewable fuels must achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions - compared to the gasoline and diesel fuels they displace - in order to be counted towards compliance with volume standards. To read the full rule, please click HERE.

Biomass Crop Assistance Program.

USDA has proposed a rule for Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) to convert biomass to bioenergy and bio-based products. USDA provides grants and loans and other financial support to help biofuels and renewable energy commercialization. BCAP  has already begun to provide matching payments to folks delivering biomass for the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation of biomass to eligible biomass conversion facilities. To read the full rule, please click HERE.Biofuels Working Group:

In May, President Obama established the Biofuels Interagency Working Group - co-chaired by USDA, DOE, and EPA, and with input from many others - to develop a comprehensive approach to accelerating the investment in and production of American biofuels and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Today the Working Group released its first report: Growing America’s Fuel - a new U.S. Government strategy for meeting or beating the country’s biofuel targets. The report is focused on short term solid government solutions supporting the existing biofuels industry, as well as accelerating the commercial establishment of advanced biofuels and a viable long-term market by transforming how the U.S. Government does business across Departments and using strategic public-private partnerships. To read the full report, please click HERE.