Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery State
of the Union Address “An America Built to Last”
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Washington, DC
As Prepared for Delivery –
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished
guests, and fellow Americans:
Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some
of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we
offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a
million of our fellow citizens fought – and several thousand gave
their lives.
We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made
the United States safer and more respected around the
world. For the first time in nine years, there
are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first
time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this
country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have
been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been
broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come
home.
These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness,
and teamwork of America’s Armed Forces. At a time
when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all
expectations. They’re not consumed with personal
ambition. They don’t obsess over their
differences. They focus on the mission at
hand. They work together.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their
example. Think about the America within our
reach: A country that leads the world in
educating its people. An America that attracts a
new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying
jobs. A future where we’re in control of our own
energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied to unstable
parts of the world. An economy built to last,
where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.
We can do this. I know we can, because we’ve done
it before. At the end of World War II, when
another generation of heroes returned home from combat, they built
the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever
known. My grandfather, a veteran of Patton’s
Army, got the chance to go to college on the GI
Bill. My grandmother, who worked on a bomber
assembly line, was part of a workforce that turned out the best
products on Earth.
The two of them shared the optimism of a Nation that had triumphed
over a depression and fascism. They understood
they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to
a story of success that every American had a chance to share – the
basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well
enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college,
and put a little away for retirement.
The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise
alive. No challenge is more
urgent. No debate is more
important. We can either settle for a country
where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing
number of Americans barely get by. Or we can
restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does
their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of
rules. What’s at stake are not Democratic values
or Republican values, but American values. We
have to reclaim them.
Let’s remember how we got here. Long before the
recession, jobs and manufacturing began leaving our
shores. Technology made
businesses more efficient, but also made some jobs
obsolete. Folks at the top saw their incomes rise
like never before, but most hardworking Americans struggled with
costs that were growing, paychecks that weren’t, and personal debt
that kept piling up.
In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. We learned
that mortgages had been sold to people who couldn’t afford or
understand them. Banks had made huge bets and
bonuses with other people’s money. Regulators had
looked the other way, or didn’t have the authority to stop the bad
behavior.
It was wrong. It was
irresponsible. And it plunged our economy into a
crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt,
and left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the
bag. In the six months before I took office, we
lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost
another four million before our policies were in full
effect.
Those are the facts. But so are
these. In the last 22 months, businesses have
created more than three million jobs. Last year,
they created the most jobs since 2005. American
manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time
since the late 1990s. Together, we’ve agreed to
cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And
we’ve put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a
crisis like that never happens again.
The state of our Union is getting stronger. And
we’ve come too far to turn back now. As long as
I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on
this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction
with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very
same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first
place.
No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad
debt, and phony financial profits. Tonight, I
want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint
for an economy that’s built to last – an economy built on American
manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a
renewal of American values.
This blueprint begins with American manufacturing.
On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of
collapse. Some even said we should let it
die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to
let that happen. In exchange for help, we
demanded responsibility. We got workers and
automakers to settle their differences. We got
the industry to retool and restructure. Today,
General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one
automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S.
than any major car company. Ford is investing
billions in U.S. plants and factories. And
together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.
We bet on American workers. We bet on American
ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto
industry is back.
What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other
industries. It can happen in Cleveland and
Pittsburgh and Raleigh. We can’t bring back every
job that’s left our shores. But right now, it’s
getting more expensive to do business in places like
China. Meanwhile, America is more
productive. A few weeks ago, the CEO of Master
Lock told me that it now makes business sense for him to bring jobs
back home. Today, for the first time in fifteen
years, Master Lock’s unionized plant in Milwaukee is running at
full capacity.
So we have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring
manufacturing back. But we have to seize
it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is
simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring
jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we
can to help you succeed.
We should start with our tax code. Right now,
companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits
overseas. Meanwhile, companies that choose to
stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the
world. It makes no sense, and everyone knows
it.
So let’s change it. First, if you’re a business
that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn’t get a tax deduction for
doing it. That money should be used to cover
moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring
jobs home.
Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair
share of taxes by moving jobs and profits
overseas. From now on, every multinational
company should have to pay a basic minimum tax.
And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that
choose to stay here and hire here.
Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger
tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we
should double the tax deduction you get for making products
here. And if you want to relocate in a community
that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help
financing a new plant, equipment, or training for new
workers.
My message is simple. It’s time to stop rewarding
businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies
that create jobs right here in America. Send me
these tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away.
We’re also making it easier for American businesses to sell
products all over the world. Two years ago, I set
a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years.
With the bipartisan trade agreements I signed into law, we are on
track to meet that goal – ahead of schedule.
Soon, there will be millions of new customers for American goods in
Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Soon, there
will be new cars on the streets of Seoul imported from Detroit, and
Toledo, and Chicago.
I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American
products. And I will not stand by when our
competitors don’t play by the rules. We’ve
brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the
last administration – and it’s made a difference.
Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a
surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do
more. It’s not right when another country lets
our movies, music, and software be pirated. It’s
not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only
because they’re heavily subsidized.
Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit
that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in
countries like China. There will be more
inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing
our borders. And this Congress should make sure
that no foreign company has an advantage over American
manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets
like Russia. Our workers are the most productive
on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you –
America will always win.
I also hear from many business leaders who want to hire in the
United States but can’t find workers with the right
skills. Growing industries in science and
technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can
do the job. Think about that – openings at a time
when millions of Americans are looking for work.
That’s inexcusable. And we know how to fix
it.
Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off
from her job as a mechanic. Then Siemens opened a
gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with
Central Piedmont Community College. The company
helped the college design courses in laser and robotics
training. It paid Jackie’s tuition, then hired
her to help operate their plant.
I want every American looking for work to have the same opportunity
as Jackie did. Join me in a national commitment
to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly
to a job. My Administration has already lined up
more companies that want to help. Model
partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges
in places like Charlotte, Orlando, and Louisville are up and
running. Now you need to give
more community colleges the resources they need to become community
career centers – places that teach people skills that local
businesses are looking for right now, from data management to
high-tech manufacturing.
And I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs,
so that from now on, people like Jackie have one program, one
website, and one place to go for all the information and help they
need. It’s time to turn our unemployment system
into a reemployment system that puts people to work.
These reforms will help people get jobs that are open
today. But to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow,
our commitment to skills and education has to start
earlier.
For less than one percent of what our Nation spends on education
each year, we’ve convinced nearly every State in the country to
raise their standards for teaching and learning – the first time
that’s happened in a generation.
But challenges remain. And we know how to solve
them.
At a time when other countries are doubling down on education,
tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of
teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the
lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000.
A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who
dreams beyond his circumstance.
Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the
trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work
tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own
pocket for school supplies – just to make a difference.
Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or
defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a
deal. Give them the resources to keep good
teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In
return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with
creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to
replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.
We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from
their education, more of them walk the stage to get their
diploma. So tonight, I call on every State to
require that all students stay in high school until they graduate
or turn eighteen.
When kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost
of college. At a time when Americans owe more in
tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the
interest rates on student loans from doubling in
July. Extend the tuition tax credit we started
that saves middle-class families thousands of
dollars. And give more young people the chance to
earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study
jobs in the next five years.
Of course, it’s not enough for us to increase student
aid. We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing
tuition; we’ll run out of money. States also need
to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in
their budgets. And colleges and universities have
to do their part by working to keep costs down.
Recently, I spoke with a group of college presidents who’ve done
just that. Some schools re-design courses to help
students finish more quickly. Some use better
technology. The point is, it’s
possible. So let me put colleges and universities
on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going
up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go
down. Higher education can’t be a luxury – it’s
an economic imperative that every family in America should be able
to afford.
Let’s also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented,
hardworking students in this country face another
challenge: The fact that they aren’t yet American
citizens. Many were brought here as small
children, are American through and through, yet they live every day
with the threat of deportation. Others came more
recently, to study business and science and engineering, but as
soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new
products and create new jobs somewhere else.
That doesn’t make sense.
I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal
immigration. That’s why my Administration has put more boots on the
border than ever before. That’s why there are
fewer illegal crossings than when I took office.
The opponents of action are out of excuses. We
should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right
now. But if election-year
politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s
at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want
to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this
country. Send me a law that gives them the chance
to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right
away.
You see, an economy built to last is one where we encourage the
talent and ingenuity of every person in this
country. That means women should earn equal pay
for equal work. It means we should support
everyone who’s willing to work; and every risk-taker and
entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.
After all, innovation is what America has always been
about. Most new jobs are created in start-ups and
small businesses. So let’s pass an agenda that
helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that
prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing to
grow. Expand tax relief to small businesses that
are raising wages and creating good jobs. Both
parties agree on these ideas. So put them in a
bill, and get it on my desk this year.
Innovation also demands basic research. Today,
the discoveries taking place in our federally-financed labs and
universities could lead to new treatments that kill cancer cells
but leave healthy ones untouched. New lightweight
vests for cops and soldiers that can stop any
bullet. Don’t gut these investments in our
budget. Don’t let other countries win the race
for the future. Support the same kind of research
and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to
new American jobs and new American industries.
Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made
energy. Over the last three years, we’ve opened
millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I’m
directing my Administration to open more than 75 percent of our
potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right
now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight
years. That’s right – eight
years. Not only that – last year, we relied less
on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.
But with only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, oil isn’t
enough. This country needs an all-out,
all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of
American energy – a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of
new jobs.
We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one
hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible
action to safely develop this energy. Experts
believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the
decade. And I’m requiring all companies that
drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they
use. America will develop this resource without
putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.
The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks
and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don’t
have to choose between our environment and our
economy. And by the way, it was public research
dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the
technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock –
reminding us that Government support is critical in helping
businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.
What’s true for natural gas is true for clean
energy. In three years, our partnership with the
private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s
leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries.
Because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly
doubled. And thousands of Americans have jobs
because of it.
When Bryan Ritterby was laid off from his job making furniture, he
said he worried that at 55, no one would give him a second
chance. But he found work at Energetx, a wind
turbine manufacturer in Michigan. Before the
recession, the factory only made luxury yachts.
Today, it’s hiring workers like Bryan, who said, “I’m proud to be
working in the industry of the future.”
Our experience with shale gas shows us that the payoffs on these
public investments don’t always come right away.
Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies
fail. But I will not walk away from the promise
of clean energy. I will not walk away from
workers like Bryan. I will not cede the wind or
solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to
make the same commitment here. We have subsidized
oil companies for a century. That’s long
enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways
to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down
on a clean energy industry that’s never been more
promising. Pass clean energy
tax credits and create these jobs.
We can also spur energy innovation with new
incentives. The differences in this chamber may
be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate
change. But there’s no reason why Congress
shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a
market for innovation. So far, you haven’t
acted. Well tonight, I will.
I’m directing my Administration to allow the development of clean
energy on enough public land to power three million
homes. And I’m proud to announce that the
Department of Defense, the world’s largest consumer of energy, will
make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history –
with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a
million homes a year.
Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less
energy. So here’s another
proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy
waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade
their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100
billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less
pollution, more manufacturing, and more jobs for construction
workers who need them. Send me a bill that
creates these jobs.
Building this new energy future should be just one part of a
broader agenda to repair America’s
infrastructure. So much of America needs to be
rebuilt. We’ve got crumbling roads and
bridges. A power grid that wastes too much
energy. An incomplete high-speed broadband
network that prevents a small business owner in rural America from
selling her products all over the world.
During the Great Depression, America built the Hoover Dam and the
Golden Gate Bridge. After World War II, we
connected our States with a system of highways.
Democratic and Republican administrations invested in great
projects that benefited everybody, from the workers who built them
to the businesses that still use them today.
In the next few weeks, I will sign an Executive Order clearing away
the red tape that slows down too many construction
projects. But you need to fund these
projects. Take the money we’re no longer spending
at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do
some nation-building right here at home.
There’s never been a better time to build, especially since the
construction industry was one of the hardest-hit when the housing
bubble burst. Of course, construction workers
weren’t the only ones hurt. So were millions of
innocent Americans who’ve seen their home values
decline. And while Government can’t fix the
problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn’t have to sit
and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some
relief.
That’s why I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every
responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on
their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest
rates. No more red tape. No
more runaround from the banks. A small fee on the
largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the
deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a
chance to repay a deficit of trust.
Let’s never forget: Millions of Americans who
work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a Government and
a financial system that do the same. It’s time to
apply the same rules from top to bottom: No
bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America
built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.
We’ve all paid the price for lenders who sold mortgages to people
who couldn’t afford them, and buyers who knew they couldn’t afford
them. That’s why we need smart regulations to
prevent irresponsible behavior. Rules to prevent
financial fraud, or toxic dumping, or faulty medical devices, don’t
destroy the free market. They make the free
market work better.
There is no question that some regulations are outdated,
unnecessary, or too costly. In fact, I’ve
approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my
presidency than my Republican predecessor did in
his. I’ve ordered every federal agency to
eliminate rules that don’t make sense. We’ve
already announced over 500 reforms, and just a fraction of them
will save business and citizens more than $10 billion over the next
five years. We got rid of one rule from 40 years
ago that could have forced some dairy farmers to spend $10,000 a
year proving that they could contain a spill – because milk was
somehow classified as an oil. With a rule like
that, I guess it was worth crying over spilled milk.
I’m confident a farmer can contain a milk spill without a federal
agency looking over his shoulder. But I will not
back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of
oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago. I
will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury pollution,
or making sure that our food is safe and our water is
clean. I will not go back to the days when health
insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny
you coverage, or charge women differently from men.
And I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to
play by its own set of rules. The new rules we
passed restore what should be any financial system’s core
purpose: Getting funding to entrepreneurs with
the best ideas, and getting loans to responsible families who want
to buy a home, start a business, or send a kid to
college.
So if you’re a big bank or financial institution, you are no longer
allowed to make risky bets with your customers’
deposits. You’re required to write out a “living
will” that details exactly how you’ll pay the bills if you fail –
because the rest of us aren’t bailing you out ever
again. And if you’re a mortgage lender or a
payday lender or a credit card company, the days of signing people
up for products they can’t afford with confusing forms and
deceptive practices are over. Today, American
consumers finally have a watchdog in Richard Cordray with one job:
To look out for them.
We will also establish a Financial Crimes Unit of highly trained
investigators to crack down on large-scale fraud and protect
people’s investments. Some financial firms
violate major anti-fraud laws because there’s no real penalty for
being a repeat offender. That’s bad for
consumers, and it’s bad for the vast majority of bankers and
financial service professionals who do the right
thing. So pass legislation that makes the
penalties for fraud count.
And tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special
unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to
expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of
risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will
hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to
homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that
hurt so many Americans.
A return to the American values of fair play and shared
responsibility will help us protect our people and our
economy. But it should also guide us as we look
to pay down our debt and invest in our future.
Right now, our most immediate priority is stopping a tax hike on
160 million working Americans while the recovery is still
fragile. People cannot afford losing $40 out of
each paycheck this year. There are plenty of ways
to get this done. So let’s agree right here,
right now: No side issues. No
drama. Pass the payroll tax cut without
delay.
When it comes to the deficit, we’ve already agreed to more than $2
trillion in cuts and savings. But we need to do
more, and that means making choices. Right now,
we’re poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed
to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent of
Americans. Right now, because of loopholes and
shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower
tax rates than millions of middle-class
households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a
lower tax rate than his secretary.
Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans? Or do we want to keep our investments
in everything else – like education and medical research; a strong
military and care for our veterans? Because if
we’re serious about paying down our debt, we can’t do
both.
The American people know what the right choice
is. So do I. As I told the
Speaker this summer, I’m prepared to make more reforms that rein in
the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social
Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security
for seniors.
But in return, we need to change our tax code so that people like
me, and an awful lot of Members of Congress, pay our fair share of
taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett
rule:
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