The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.

The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing.

Read HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' letter to Anthem Blue Cross calling on them to publicly justify their extreme premium hikes at the same time their parent company sees soaring profits.

"The easiest thing to do right now would be to just say, oh, [passing health reform] is too hard, let's just re-group and lick our wounds, 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. But...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 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. I'm not going to walk away from the American people. I'm not going to walk away on this challenge."

He then spoke about the need to continue working to change the culture and politics of Washington, in order to address the challenges that the country faces:

"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. Look, 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. At this defining moment, that's never been more important."

And he closed by talking about moving forward together:

"After all the promises we've made, this is our best chance to deliver the change that the American people need. 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."

You can watch the full video below:

Importantly, each of these sites will be the focal point for the agency's open government plans that, after public feedback and suggestion, will make our work across the Administration more accessible to the American people.  That's why each Open Government Webpage incorporates a mechanism to seek your ideas and insights.  Most agencies are leveraging a new, no-cost public engagement app from the General Services Administration that allows them to pay less attention to designing tools and more attention to running, moderating, and analyzing public input.  It will help to make the agency open government pages more effective at turning public suggestions into government actions.
 
Here at the White House, we're keeping tabs on the agencies’ efforts.  A dashboard – launched this weekend – tracks agency progress toward the goals of the Open Government Directive.  This dashboard will continue to evolve with your feedback.
 
Since day one, the President has committed his Administration to break down long-standing barriers between the people and their government.  The steps that the agencies are taking are designed to change the culture of government from a closed, opaque structure to one that is more accessible and accountable to citizens.
 
Check out the agency sites and see their work for yourself.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

First, while there are encouraging signs regarding jobs, they are early signs and must be viewed with care.   The job market is clearly doing better than it was but the level of unemployment is miles north of where it needs to be.  Unemployment fell significantly last month, which is good, but a) it’s a one month data point and not yet a new trend, and b) it fell from 10% to 9.7%, and that's still an unacceptably high rate of joblessness.

Second, today's data release has new, revised information on just how bad this recession has been in the job market.  Here a chart is worth a lot of words.
The chart plots the course of payroll employment over the last four recessions, including this one.  In each case, we index jobs at the start of the recession to 100%, and the x-axis shows the number of months from when the recession began. 

By setting it up this way, you get a lot of useful, comparative information across different downturns.  For example, you see how much longer it took to regain the lost jobs in the 1990 and 2001 recession compared to the 1981 version. 

But the main point is how severe this recession has been on job loss.  There are two lines in the graph for the current recession because last week's data provided a revision based on more complete data.  We knew it was bad, but it turned out to be even worse.  We thought we were losing an unprecedented 690,000 jobs per month in the first quarter of last year.  It turned out to be 750,000.  In the four months between December 2008 and March 2009, we lost more jobs than during the last two recessions combined.

That's where we were.  Where we are, as noted, is better but not good enough.  Last month, we lost 20,000 jobs and that's not an outlier—it's another data point in an improving  trend moving towards net job gains, which we expect to be seeing in a few months.  But the job market won't be in recovery until those small negatives turn into big positives.

Here's what comes out of all this: our policies, most notably the Recovery Act, have helped move us from a situation where we were losing a nightmarish 750,000 jobs per month to one in which we've pulled back from the economic abyss and are moving a lot closer to adding jobs, on net, on a regular basis.  But we can't kick back and wait for that moment.    There's too much pain out there, too many families struggling with a job market that’s simply not providing the opportunities they need to get back on their feet.

So we have to hasten the arrival of more robust job growth with a set of initiatives targeted at the factors holding back job creation.  The House passed a targeted jobs bill in December that included some of these priorities, including upgrading transportation and infrastructure, and aid to states to keep teachers, cops, and firefighters on the job.  The Senate’s actively working on proposals with some of those same components.

Last week the President announced an initiative to help credit flow more freely to small businesses that want to expand their operations and payrolls but can’t access the capital.  Both the President and Congress have been working on a new hiring tax credit targeted at the business owner who is considering adding workers but needs a nudge (and you can see employers dipping their toes in the labor pool—temp work has increased in each of the past four months). 

Another idea in the mix right now is investment in infrastructure to help offset the continuing job losses in construction, a sector that took another big hit last month.  And another is help to state and local governments facing tight budget squeezes and the resultant layoffs in folks like teachers, down 10,500 last month at the local level.

GDP is growing and growing pretty solidly.  The employment data show employers cutting a lot less but not yet adding a lot more.  Unemployment moved in the right direction last month, and we need to build on that positive movement.  

But as the figure above shows so clearly, we've got a huge hole to fill.  That hole wasn't dug overnight, and it's going to take some time and some smart, targeted policies, to fill it up.  Now there's a shovel-ready project worth taking on.

Jared Bernstein is Chief Economist to Vice President Biden, and Executive Director of the Middle Class Task Force

The New York Times reported:

President Obama said Sunday that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse.

Mr. Obama made the announcement in an interview on CBS during the Super Bowl pre-game show, capitalizing on a vast television audience. He set out a plan that would put Republicans on the spot to offer their own ideas on health care and show whether both sides are willing to work together.

During the interview, President Obama reiterated his commitment to passing reform and explained how this summit will help get there:

"I want to ask [Republicans] to put their ideas on the table, and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, I want to come back and have a large meeting, the Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward.

...I want to look at the Republican ideas that are out there, and I want to be very specific. How do you guys want to lower costs? How do you guys intend to reform the insurance markets so people with preexisting conditions, for example, can get health care? How do you want to make sure that the 30 million people who don't have health insurance can get it? What are your ideas specifically?

If we can go step by step through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements, then procedurally, there's no reason why we can't do it a lot faster than the process took last year."

The bipartisan meeting is currently scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 25th.

Our concerns are based on our commitment to universal respect for human rights. We are particularly concerned by the potential for further violence and repression during the coming days, especially around the anniversary of the Islamic Republic's founding on 11 February. We call on the Government of Iran to live up to its international human rights obligations, to end its abuses against its own people, to hold accountable those who have committed the abuses and to release those who are exercising their rights.
 

Senator Warner and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra announced today that Virginia will receive over $21.5 million to expand broadband and high-speed Internet access throughout southside Virginia. The investments will help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, and create jobs in the region.

The grants will come from the economic recovery package and were awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, which provides grants to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas.

The grants were awarded to two projects will go toward two projects:

• Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative: $16 million infrastructure grant (with an additional $4 million in applicant-provided matching funds) to add 465 miles of new fiber that will directly connect 121 K-12 schools in Southern Virginia to an existing 800-mile fiber high-speed network. By improving connection speeds for these schools from 1.5 Mbps to at least10 Mbps, these new fiber connections will allow the schools, many in isolated areas, to take advantage of distance learning and virtual classroom opportunities. The expanded fiber network also will spur affordable broadband service to local consumers by enabling more than 30 Internet service providers to connect to the project’s open network.

• Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.: $5.5 million infrastructure grant (with an additional $1.4 million in applicant-provided matching funds) to add 110 miles of open access fiber-optic network between Blacksburg and Bedford City. The resulting network will cross six counties in Virginia’s Appalachian region, and provide direct high-speed connections to Virginia Tech’s main campus in Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, enhancing the ability for both institutions to collaborate on cutting-edge medical and other scientific research with institutions in the United States and abroad.

Senator Warner, who has been a champion for broadband access in rural areas since his term as Governor of Virginia, said today he is excited about the progress that will be made through these so-called “middle-mile” projects:

These stimulus dollars are going to create two separate paths for job creation. The first will be through immediate jobs created through the installation of fiber-optic and broadband cables. More important is the economic growth and activity that will come to our rural communities from having the high-speed connectivity. … Broadband access doesn’t guarantee that you will attract 21st Century jobs, but if you don’t have it, you won’t even be considered.

This is a step in the right direction and we’d like to see more of this. It’s important that grants like these are made in a timely manner so these jobs can be created to help get our economy back on track.

As Virginia governor, Warner helped to create the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative, a partnership between the public and private sectors to find ways to increase affordable broadband access and attract business and good jobs throughout the commonwealth. Last year, Senator Warner hosted the Virginia Summit on Broadband Access, to help Virginia's small businesses, non-profits, and local governments learn how to apply for federal broadband programs.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner and Representatives Tom Perriello and Rick Boucher today announced two grants totaling more than $21.5 million to expand broadband Internet infrastructure in Virginia. The grants, awarded through the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will support the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. These investments will help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth and create jobs.

The grants are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, supported by Senators Webb and Warner and Representatives Perriello and Boucher.

The two grants announced today will add 575 miles of new high-speed Internet infrastructure in Southern Virginia. The grants were announced during a press conference call with White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner, and Representative Tom Perriello.

“These projects are valuable in terms of attracting new businesses, allowing medical professionals to give better care, and giving tens of thousands of local residents access to the internet,” said Senator Webb. “Southside and Southwest Virginia have been hit hard by the economic downturn. It is our duty to provide this part of the Commonwealth with a fair shot at the future. I have consistently fought for the expansion of high speed internet in Virginia's rural areas and I am pleased the American Recovery and Recovery Act prioritized this funding.”

“Building-out the broadband capacity in Southwest and Southside Virginia is a critical piece of our effort to expand economic and educational opportunities in rural parts of our state,” Senator Warner said. “This investment will create enormous educational opportunities for young people and open new markets to our existing businesses and entrepreneurs that will add to the long-term economic competitiveness of these communities.”

Further information about the two grants announced for Virginia today:

Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative: $16 million infrastructure grant with an additional $4 million in applicant-provided matching funds to add 465 miles of new fiber that will directly connect 121 K-12 schools in Southern Virginia to an existing 800-mile fiber high-speed network. By improving connection speeds for these schools from 1.5 Mbps to at least10 Mbps, these new fiber connections will allow the schools, many in isolated areas, to take advantage of distance learning and virtual classroom opportunities. In addition, the expanded fiber network will spur affordable broadband service to local consumers by enabling more than 30 Internet service providers to connect to the project’s open network.

Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.: $5.5 million infrastructure grant with an additional $1.4 million in applicant-provided matching funds to add 110 miles of open access fiber-optic network between Blacksburg and Bedford City an existing network operated by the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative. The resulting network will cross six counties in Virginia’s Appalachian region, and provide direct high-speed connections to Virginia Tech’s main campus in Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, enhancing the ability for both institutions to collaborate on cutting-edge medical and other scientific research with institutions in the United States and abroad.

“This is a huge boost for Southside Virginia, benefiting our kids' educational success in the short term and building our region's long-term competitive advantage for the 21st Century,” said Representative Perrriello. “I'm thrilled these stimulus funds will expand Internet access for consumers in our small towns and rural communities, giving our workforce the competitive edge they deserve.”

NTIA received more than 1,800 applications during the first BTOP funding round and is currently awarding grants on a rolling basis. Including today’s announcement, NTIA has now awarded 19 grants totaling approximately $228 million under the program. In addition, NTIA has awarded $97 million in mapping and planning grants to 51 states and territories. A second round of BTOP applications will be accepted through March 15, 2010.

Representative Boucher, who represents communities benefiting from the awards announced today said, “These federal funds will provide many more residents in the Ninth Congressional District with access to high speed Internet services. Just as first canals, then railroads and then highways were major arteries of commerce in earlier eras, in the 21st Century, access to broadband will be a defining feature of economic success for rural communities. Step by positive step our expanding broadband infrastructure is assuring that Southwest Virginia’s communities will be at the center of economic opportunity and these federal funds will help us achieve this goal.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to NTIA and RUS to fund projects that will expand access to and adoption of broadband services. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion for grants to deploy broadband infrastructure, expand public computer center capacity, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. RUS will use $2.5 billion in budget authority to support grants and loans to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities. NTIA plans to announce all grant awards by September 30, 2010.

“By expanding broadband Internet access in unserved and underserved parts of Virginia, we can bring new opportunities for jobs, innovation, and economic growth to these communities,” said White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. “The grants announced today will also help improve education in rural parts of the state, facilitate scientific and medical research at Virginia universities, and lay the groundwork for more consumers to ultimately get affordable broadband service where they live.”

###

UPDATE: Here is a list of the 121 schools that will benefit from the $16 million infrastructure grant to the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner and Representatives Tom Perriello and Rick Boucher today announced two grants totaling more than $21.5 million to expand broadband Internet infrastructure in Virginia. The grants, awarded through the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will support the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, enhance and expand public computer centers, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. These investments will help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth and create jobs.

The grants are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, supported by Senators Webb and Warner and Representatives Perriello and Boucher.

The two grants announced today will add 575 miles of new high-speed Internet infrastructure in Southern Virginia. The grants were announced during a press conference call with White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner, and Representative Tom Perriello.

“These projects are valuable in terms of attracting new businesses, allowing medical professionals to give better care, and giving tens of thousands of local residents access to the internet,” said Senator Webb. “Southside and Southwest Virginia have been hit hard by the economic downturn. It is our duty to provide this part of the Commonwealth with a fair shot at the future. I have consistently fought for the expansion of high speed internet in Virginia's rural areas and I am pleased the American Recovery and Recovery Act prioritized this funding.”

“Building-out the broadband capacity in Southwest and Southside Virginia is a critical piece of our effort to expand economic and educational opportunities in rural parts of our state,” Senator Warner said. “This investment will create enormous educational opportunities for young people and open new markets to our existing businesses and entrepreneurs that will add to the long-term economic competitiveness of these communities.”

Further information about the two grants announced for Virginia today:

Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative: $16 million infrastructure grant with an additional $4 million in applicant-provided matching funds to add 465 miles of new fiber that will directly connect 121 K-12 schools in Southern Virginia to an existing 800-mile fiber high-speed network. By improving connection speeds for these schools from 1.5 Mbps to at least10 Mbps, these new fiber connections will allow the schools, many in isolated areas, to take advantage of distance learning and virtual classroom opportunities. In addition, the expanded fiber network will spur affordable broadband service to local consumers by enabling more than 30 Internet service providers to connect to the project’s open network.

Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.: $5.5 million infrastructure grant with an additional $1.4 million in applicant-provided matching funds to add 110 miles of open access fiber-optic network between Blacksburg and Bedford City an existing network operated by the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative. The resulting network will cross six counties in Virginia’s Appalachian region, and provide direct high-speed connections to Virginia Tech’s main campus in Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, enhancing the ability for both institutions to collaborate on cutting-edge medical and other scientific research with institutions in the United States and abroad.

“This is a huge boost for Southside Virginia, benefiting our kids' educational success in the short term and building our region's long-term competitive advantage for the 21st Century,” said Representative Perrriello. “I'm thrilled these stimulus funds will expand Internet access for consumers in our small towns and rural communities, giving our workforce the competitive edge they deserve.”

NTIA received more than 1,800 applications during the first BTOP funding round and is currently awarding grants on a rolling basis. Including today’s announcement, NTIA has now awarded 19 grants totaling approximately $228 million under the program. In addition, NTIA has awarded $97 million in mapping and planning grants to 51 states and territories. A second round of BTOP applications will be accepted through March 15, 2010.

Representative Boucher, who represents communities benefiting from the awards announced today said, “These federal funds will provide many more residents in the Ninth Congressional District with access to high speed Internet services. Just as first canals, then railroads and then highways were major arteries of commerce in earlier eras, in the 21st Century, access to broadband will be a defining feature of economic success for rural communities. Step by positive step our expanding broadband infrastructure is assuring that Southwest Virginia’s communities will be at the center of economic opportunity and these federal funds will help us achieve this goal.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to NTIA and RUS to fund projects that will expand access to and adoption of broadband services. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion for grants to deploy broadband infrastructure, expand public computer center capacity, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. RUS will use $2.5 billion in budget authority to support grants and loans to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities. NTIA plans to announce all grant awards by September 30, 2010.

“By expanding broadband Internet access in unserved and underserved parts of Virginia, we can bring new opportunities for jobs, innovation, and economic growth to these communities,” said White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. “The grants announced today will also help improve education in rural parts of the state, facilitate scientific and medical research at Virginia universities, and lay the groundwork for more consumers to ultimately get affordable broadband service where they live.”

###

The funding was made available at the urging of Senators Udall and Bennet, who last year wrote U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to make emergency resources available to help Western states address immediate needs related to the bark beetle epidemic. Secretary Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, agreed on Dec. 8 to make $40 million available for bark beetle-caused public safety, infrastructure and ecological damage.

Today's announcement provides more details, including that the bulk of the funding will go to Colorado.

'Colorado communities have been at the epicenter of the bark beetle epidemic. We now have millions of acres of dead and dying trees that could threaten people's safety, damage and disrupt infrastructure, or add fuel to wildfires. So this additional funding - which has come at our request - is very good news,' said Senator Udall, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 'I have worked for many years to get additional resources to help keep the public safe from wildfire and falling trees and to improve the overall health of our forests. These funds will help enable communities to better protect property, people and facilities, help keep trails and campsites open, and create and sustain jobs.'

Senator Bennet, a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said: 'The bark beetle epidemic has not only affected the health of our forests and the viability of our water supply - it's also threatened our local economy. I'm delighted that so much of the funding designated to fight this epidemic has come to Colorado to help protect critical infrastructure and communities that are currently at risk. This effort will make it possible for forest health and public safety work to be done, while simultaneously creating jobs and contributing to our economic growth.'

More details are yet to be announced about how the funding will be allocated. However, the resources most likely will be distributed to neediest areas first, including sites where there are fire threats or other threats to public safety, such as dead or weakened trees along trails, roads, campgrounds, or power lines and other infrastructure.

Senators Udall and Bennet have advocated on multiple occasions in the last year for more resources to help Colorado address bark beetle damage.

Additionally, Senator Udall has worked for many years in the U.S. House of Representatives and now in the U.S. Senate to mitigate the impact of the bark beetle. Most recently, he authored the National Forest Insect and Disease Emergency Act of 2009 (S. 2798), which was co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID). The bipartisan bill would designate 'insect emergency areas' to prioritize treatment and compensate individuals for removing dead trees, create incentives to convert the vegetation removed from forests into biofuels, authorize the Forest Service to expedite treatment work in areas full of dead trees, and create 'good neighbor authority,' allowing the Forest Service to contract with state foresters to reduce threats next to homes and private property.

An alarming new study shows that health care costs increased last year at the fastest rate in more than a half century.

Health care spending rose to an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2009, or $8,047 per person -- and is now projected to nearly double by 2019. If we don't act, this growing burden will mean more lost jobs, more families pushed into bankruptcy, and more crushing debt for our nation.

The conclusion is clear: This isn't a problem we can kick down the road for another decade -- or even another year. We need to pass health reform now.

We're incredibly close. But too many in Washington are now saying that we should delay or give up on reform entirely. So we need to make it crystal clear that Americans understand the stakes for our economy and our lives, and that we want action.

Can you write a letter to the editor of your local paper right now?

In just five minutes of your time, you can tell thousands of readers about this new report on spiraling costs, and why abandoning reform is just not an option.

You can also help by posting this note on Facebook, letting your friends know about the new costs study and asking them to join you in writing a letter to a local paper.

President Obama and many allies in Congress are working hard to finish the job -- but we can't rest until it's done. Your note will help break through the Washington spin and show members of Congress and the media what local voters really believe. Click here to get started.

It's clear that we're in the fight of our lives to pass real reform. But after a century of trying, the finish line is finally in sight. As President Obama reminded us all in his State of the Union address, we're fighting for our families and our country -- and we don't quit.

Thanks for making it possible,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania challenged President Obama last week on behalf of steel workers, and helped underscore the administration’s ambivalence about trade.

During a public meeting between the president and Senate Democrats, Mr. Specter asked whether Mr. Obama would upend existing agreements with China in response to trade policies in Beijing that he said amounted to “international banditry.”

“Arlen, I would not,” the president replied. “What I don’t want is for us as a country, or as a party, to shy away from the prospects for international competition.”

But Mr. Obama also noted his “much tougher” line than his Republican predecessor on enforcing existing trade agreements — including slapping tariffs on imported Chinese tires.

It is little wonder that Mr. Obama’s message on trade has gotten muddled.

Like every president of the last generation, he has maintained the rhetorical embrace of free trade. But even as he insists that Washington cannot afford to wait for a new health care system, energy policy or set of Wall Street regulations, Mr. Obama has been willing to wait on asking Congress to approve pending trade deals.

Given the opposition from his labor union allies, that stance conserves Mr. Obama’s political capital at a time when so many other priorities hang in the balance on Capitol Hill.

But it also undercuts Mr. Obama’s top priority: reducing the nation’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate. And as a result, even some fellow Democrats believe that Mr. Obama is leaving new jobs on the table.

Contrasting Clinton

The last Democrat in the Oval Office before Mr. Obama made trade the center of his economic agenda: Bill Clinton, in his first year in office, bucked union opposition to win passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, with help from Congressional Republicans.

Mr. Obama, by contrast, has sent mixed signals since the 2008 Democratic primaries. While candidate Obama courted blue-collar votes by criticizing Nafta, his economic adviser Austan Goolsbee was depicted in a Canadian official’s government memorandum as having privately ascribed such rhetoric to political maneuvering.

As president, Mr. Obama has not moved to renegotiate Nafta. The administration recently tempered the impact of “Buy America” provisions in last year’s economic stimulus legislation by agreeing to treat Canadian companies the same as American ones on some projects.

And in his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama embraced a goal espoused by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: doubling American exports in the next five years, which the administration says would create two million jobs.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke last week laid out details of the initiative, including promotional, logistical and financing help for small and medium businesses. “A positive sign,” said Myron Brilliant, a trade analyst at the chamber.

Yet the administration has still not resolved the longstanding dispute that is keeping long-haul Mexican trucks out of the United States, despite what is called for by Nafta. The Teamsters union has resisted that step, on safety grounds.

Nor has Mr. Obama asked Congress to ratify three trade agreements negotiated during the Bush administration, with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. His negotiators continue to seek more concessions — in the case of South Korea, better terms for American auto companies.

“The administration is not interested in putting forth an agreement that’s unfair to U.S. companies,” Mr. Locke said in an interview.

Pressure All Around

Mr. Obama was also pressed on trade in his recent public meeting with House Republicans — but from the opposite direction. Representative Peter Roskam of Illinois blamed Democratic resistance in Congress for blocking the “no-cost job creation” that those pending trade deals would bring, and asked the president whether he would work with Republicans to push those deals through.

“You’re right, there are conflicts within and fissures within the Democratic Party,” Mr. Obama acknowledged. But he remained vague on next steps.

If that tentativeness avoids a fight with organized labor, it may also conflict with Mr. Obama’s larger economic goals.

Unless the South Korea, Panama and Colombia trade deals are implemented, “the president will have no hope at all of keeping his promise to create two million new jobs,” said Jim Bacchus, a trade lawyer, former Democratic congressman from Florida and onetime World Trade Organization official.

Chamber officials calculated that failure to implement those agreements would cost the economy 383,400 jobs. But they remained hopeful that, eventually, the White House would move forward rather than abandon them.

“I think the administration will wait until the political environment is a little bit better, which means after the midterms,” said Mr. Brilliant, the chamber trade analyst. “The words are encouraging, but we need action.”

Here are the facts: In March 2009, Ohio’s Republican congressional delegation wrote to Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) expressing their frustration that Ohio would allocate approximately $57 million in federal “stimulus” dollars to a slush fund to study projects that may never get built instead of projects that are “shovel-ready.”  This Associated Press report details the scheme, reporting that Ohio “transportation officials passed over some ready-to-go construction projects and steered about 7 percent of their $774 million share for planning and preliminary studies.”  Strickland ignored the letter and kept the slush fund open.

On April 16, Ohio Republicans wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him to investigate Ohio’s plans to create this slush-fund.  Several months later, federal officials took action to shut Gov. Strickland’s slush fund down and order the state to put the money into shovel-ready projects.

In a statement released on June 15, 2009, Boehner thanked federal officials for shutting down Gov. Strickland’s slush fund.  Boehner stated that “[t]he stated intent of the so-called stimulus package was to create jobs, and certainly a $57 million slush-fund studying projects did nothing to achieve that goal.” At no time did Boehner “take credit for” any project or “praise” the stimulus bill.

More than three million Americans have lost their job since the Democrats’ “stimulus” was enacted – the same “stimulus” that media reports have shown is chock full of waste, fraud and abuse.  Yet this White House still can’t answer the one question on Americans’ mind: “Where are the jobs?”

Instead of making false claims, it’s long past time for this White House to do what it promised: work in a bipartisan way to focus on helping small businesses create jobs for American families struggling in today’s economy.

10:26 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  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.

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.

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.

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.  (Applause.)

END
10:48 A.M. EST

You can also follow live updates from the meeting, and see highlights from yesterday's events, on the DemocratsDotOrg twitter feed.

The audio and video will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 am ET, Saturday, February 6, 2010.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
February 6, 2010

Even though our economy is growing again, these are still tough times for America.  Too many businesses are still shuttered.  Too many families can’t make ends meet.  And while yesterday, we learned that the unemployment rate has dropped below ten percent for the first time since summer, it is still unacceptably high – and too many Americans still can’t find work. 

But what we must remember at a time like this is that we are not helpless in the face of our difficulties.  As Americans, we make our own destiny.  We forge our own path.  And I am confident that if we come together and put aside the politics that keeps holding us back, we can do that again.  We can rebuild this economy on a new, stronger foundation that leads to more jobs and greater prosperity.

I believe a key part of that foundation is America’s small businesses – the places where most new jobs begin. 

These companies represent the essence of the American spirit – the promise that anyone can succeed in this country if you have a good idea and the determination to see it through.  And every once in awhile, these ideas don’t just lead to a new business and new jobs, but a new American product that forever changes the world.  After all, Hewlett Packard began in a garage.  Google began as a simple research project. 

Government can’t create these businesses, but it can give entrepreneurs the support they need to open their doors, expand, or hire more workers.  And that’s what we’ve always done in this country.  The folks at Southwest Windpower in Flagstaff, Arizona started their company in a small home.  Since getting a loan from the Small Business Administration, they’ve sold 160,000 wind turbines to about 90 different countries, and are hiring even more workers today.  When Sam Ko walked into one of the SBA’s small business development centers in Illinois, he didn’t have any business experience at all – just a patent for a new metal manufacturing technology.  He was given a loan and a business plan, and today his company is still growing, with offices all over the Midwest. 

Last year, the steps we took supported over 47,000 loans to small businesses and delivered billions in tax relief to small business owners, which helped companies keep their doors open, make payroll, and hire workers.  But we can and must do more.  That’s why I’ve proposed a series of steps this week to support small business owners and the jobs they create – to provide more access to credit, more incentives to hire, and more opportunities to grow and sell products all over the world. 

Because financing remains difficult for good, credit-worthy small businesses across the country, I’ve proposed that we take $30 billion from the TARP fund originally used for Wall Street and create a new Small Business Lending Fund that will provide capital for community banks on Main Street.  These are the small, local banks that will be able to give our small business owners more of the credit they need to stay afloat.  We should also continue to waive fees, increase guarantees, and expand the size of SBA-backed loans for small businesses.  And yesterday, I proposed making it easier for small business owners to refinance their mortgages during these tough times.

To give these companies greater incentives to grow and create jobs, I’ve proposed a new tax credit for more than one million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages, as well as the elimination of all capital gains taxes on small business investment. 

Finally, we should provide targeted support to the most innovative small businesses – the ones with the greatest potential to export new goods and products all over the world.  A lot of these companies – like the wind turbine manufacturer I mentioned – are the foundation on which we can rebuild our economy to compete in the 21st century.  They just need a little help securing the financing they need to get off the ground.  We have every incentive to help them do that. 

Next week, Congress will start debating many of these proposals.  And if anyone has additional ideas to support small businesses and create jobs, I’m happy to consider them.  My door is always open.  But I urge members of both parties:  do not oppose good ideas just because it’s good politics to do so.  The proposals I’ve outlined are not Democratic or Republican; liberal or conservative.  They are pro-business, they are pro-growth, and they are pro-job.  Leaders in both parties have supported similar ideas in the past.  So let’s come together and pass these measures without delay.  Let’s put more Americans back to work, and let’s give our small business owners the support to do what they’ve always done:  the freedom to pursue their dreams and build our country’s future.  Thanks for listening. 

First, Federal Agencies have designated a high-level senior official to be accountable for the quality of Federal spending information.  In an ongoing commitment to transparency, participation, and collaboration, these senior leaders will work together to ensure that Federal spending information meets adequate controls to ensure quality data is are available to the public.  The senior leaders will also participate in the agency’s Senior Management Council. 

Second, the White House created a Working Group on January 6 to focus on transparency, accountability, participation, and collaboration within the Federal Government.  With senior-level representation from program and management offices throughout the Government, this group will serve several critical functions.  These functions include (1) the development and sharing of best practices and innovative ideas to promote transparency, encourage participation, and foster collaboration and (2) coordinating efforts to implement existing mandates for Federal spending transparency.

With representation from across government, the work of these two groups will support Federal Agencies as they encourage transparency, cultivate public participation, and create opportunity for innovative collaborations.

Vivek Kundra is Chief Information Officer
Aneesh Chopra is Chief Technology Officer

President Obama said, “I am proud that these distinguished individuals will serve in my Administration.  The arts and the humanities enhance the vibrancy of our society, inspire us and strengthen our democracy.  I look forward to working with them in the weeks and months ahead.”

President Obama announced today his intent to nominate the following individuals:

Chuck Close, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Chuck Close is a visual artist noted for his highly inventive techniques used to paint the human face, and is best known for his large-scale, photo based portrait paintings. He is also an accomplished printmaker and photographer whose work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2000, Mr. Close was presented with the prestigious National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.  Close is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has served on the boards of many arts organizations.

Fred Goldring, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Fred Goldring co-founded the prominent California-based entertainment law firm Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein which represents numerous global superstar recording and performing artists, and is also co-founder of entertainment strategic consultancy, MemBrain, which works with Fortune 500 companies and new media and technology enterprises regarding entertainment marketing strategy. Mr. Goldring is also the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rock The Vote, and has been the co-recipient of an Emmy Award, a Clio Award, a Global Media Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Sheila Johnson, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Sheila Johnson is the founder and CEO of Salamander Hospitality; co-founder of Black Entertainment Television; a documentary film producer; and the only African-American woman to co-own three professional sports teams.  A classically trained violinist who began her career as a music teacher, Ms. Johnson is a long time advocate for the arts. She serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design and several boards including Americans for the Arts.

Pamela Joyner, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Pamela Joyner is the Founder of Avid Partners, LLC.  Her other business experiences include holding senior positions at Bowman Capital, LLC and Capital Guardian Trust Company. Ms Joyner is a former Co-Chair and current Trustee Emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet.  She is a Trustee of The MacDowell Colony, The School of American Ballet and Dartmouth College.  Ms. Joyner also serves a Director of The California Healthcare Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of First Republic Bank.

Jhumpa Lahiri, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Jhumpa Lahiri is a fiction writer whose debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award, and the New Yorker magazine's Debut of the Year. Her novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Vallombrosa-Gregor von Rezzori Prize.

Ken Solomon, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Ken Solomon is chairman of Ovation TV, a national cable and satellite network focused on bringing art, culture and personal creativity to all Americans.  He is also chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour network dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle.  With more than 25 years of television and multimedia experience, Mr. Solomon has held top posts with the Walt Disney Corp., Universal Television, DreamWorks, News Corp. and Scripps.  He is currently vice chairman of the Young Presidents Organization Bel-Air (YPO) and has been named “Humanitarian of the Year” by H.E.L.P. Group, one of the largest and most influential children’s charities in the United States, for which he serves on the Circle of Friends advisory board.

President Obama said, “I am proud that these distinguished individuals will serve in my Administration.  The arts and the humanities enhance the vibrancy of our society, inspire us and strengthen our democracy.  I look forward to working with them in the weeks and months ahead.”

President Obama announced today his intent to nominate the following individuals:

Chuck Close, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Chuck Close is a visual artist noted for his highly inventive techniques used to paint the human face, and is best known for his large-scale, photo based portrait paintings. He is also an accomplished printmaker and photographer whose work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2000, Mr. Close was presented with the prestigious National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.  Close is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has served on the boards of many arts organizations.

Fred Goldring, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Fred Goldring co-founded the prominent California-based entertainment law firm Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein which represents numerous global superstar recording and performing artists, and is also co-founder of entertainment strategic consultancy, MemBrain, which works with Fortune 500 companies and new media and technology enterprises regarding entertainment marketing strategy. Mr. Goldring is also the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rock The Vote, and has been the co-recipient of an Emmy Award, a Clio Award, a Global Media Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Sheila Johnson, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Sheila Johnson is the founder and CEO of Salamander Hospitality; co-founder of Black Entertainment Television; a documentary film producer; and the only African-American woman to co-own three professional sports teams.  A classically trained violinist who began her career as a music teacher, Ms. Johnson is a long time advocate for the arts. She serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design and several boards including Americans for the Arts.

Pamela Joyner, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Pamela Joyner is the Founder of Avid Partners, LLC.  Her other business experiences include holding senior positions at Bowman Capital, LLC and Capital Guardian Trust Company. Ms Joyner is a former Co-Chair and current Trustee Emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet.  She is a Trustee of The MacDowell Colony, The School of American Ballet and Dartmouth College.  Ms. Joyner also serves a Director of The California Healthcare Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of First Republic Bank.

Jhumpa Lahiri, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Jhumpa Lahiri is a fiction writer whose debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award, and the New Yorker magazine's Debut of the Year. Her novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Vallombrosa-Gregor von Rezzori Prize.

Ken Solomon, Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
Ken Solomon is chairman of Ovation TV, a national cable and satellite network focused on bringing art, culture and personal creativity to all Americans.  He is also chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour network dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle.  With more than 25 years of television and multimedia experience, Mr. Solomon has held top posts with the Walt Disney Corp., Universal Television, DreamWorks, News Corp. and Scripps.  He is currently vice chairman of the Young Presidents Organization Bel-Air (YPO) and has been named “Humanitarian of the Year” by H.E.L.P. Group, one of the largest and most influential children’s charities in the United States, for which he serves on the Circle of Friends advisory board.

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.

Ellen Miller, Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation, said:

There is no question that the President has set an extraordinarily high bar with respect to transparency in government. And while I think there have been certainly some shortcomings in execution… I think he has begun to make a significant change in the culture of what openness means and move the default of where government information is from being in the hands of government into citizens’ hands… The Administration has clearly endorsed that sort of fundamental cultural shift in information and transparency. It’s a sea change, frankly, not just from the previous Administration… Forget the previous administration; this is a sea change in my decades of experience of Washington…

The important thing that's happening in the administration is not the individual things that they are making available, as important as they are, but the fact that they are beginning to hardwire this default of openness into government.

Transparency is not an issue; it’s a value. And I think that's what the administration has embraced and what’s absolutely key to their successes.

Meredith Fuchs, General Counsel of the National Security Archive, focused on the Administration’s work on three specific openness issues:

[F]or me, these three issues--presidential records, classification, and FOIA--can be summed as showing a pretty good start. A lot of work necessary in a few of these areas but really a tremendous change.

She also noted regarding our historic White House visitor records release (100,000 records and counting) that it is "tremendously brave to expose yourself to that kind of attack, that kind of inquiry."

Sarah Cohen, Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, while candid about the work that remains to be done, stated:

The idea that we’re here at all talking about transparency says a lot. We wouldn't have been here at all a year and a half ago. Nobody would have had it on an agenda, and nobody would have cared about it. And that makes a big difference… the point about releasing the White House visitor logs is a very important one, that that was a huge step, and one that I think most people around the country looked at and said "that’s really important."

And even Mark Tapscott, the editor of the Washington Examiner's editorial page—which has been pretty tough on the Administration at times—offered some kind words:

Having served in an administration… as a political appointee, I have some appreciation for the political imperative that the transparency issue has to exist within. The political imperative is very simply this: plausible deniability. "Protect the boss." "Save your tail." And that means, too often, we have an incentive to not be transparent. And an incentive that’s institutional and not merely personal. That’s one of the main reasons why it’s so difficult to achieve change.

It's also one of the reasons why many of the things that the Obama people have started to do are rather remarkable. It is remarkable, given that imperative, that they would assume responsibility for doing these things.

Our release of the White House visitor logs that the panelists applauded is only one example of the many steps the President has taken so far to increase government transparency. The Administration’s other concrete commitments to openness include issuing the Open Government Directive, putting up more government information than ever before on data.gov and recovery.gov, reforming the government’s FOIA processes, providing on-line access to White House staff financial reports and salaries, issuing an executive order to fight unnecessary secrecy and speed declassification, reversing an executive order that previously limited access to presidential records, and webcasting White House meetings and conferences. The release also compliments our new lobbying rules, which in addition to closing the revolving door for lobbyists who work in government have also emphasized expanding disclosure of lobbyist contacts with the government.  And the President capped the year off by calling in the State of the Union for bold transparency initiatives (pdf) as part of his reform agenda for 2010 and the years ahead. 

Norm Eisen is Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform

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. Panetta added: “As they worked to protect lives, they sacrificed their own. For this, we honor them—now and always…We will carry this fight to the enemy. Our resolve is unbroken, our energy undiminished, and our dedication to each other and to our nation, unshakable.”

***

Remarks by The President at Memorial for CIA Officers
CIA Headquarters
Langley, Virginia

THE PRESIDENT: America’s intelligence agencies are a community, and the CIA is a family. That is how we gather here today. I speak as a grateful Commander-in-Chief who relies on you. There are members of Congress here who support you. Leaders -- Leon Panetta, Steve Kappes -- who guide you. And most of all, family, friends and colleagues who love you and grieve with you.

For more than 60 years, the security of our nation has demanded that the work of this agency remain largely unknown. But today, our gratitude as citizens demands that we speak of seven American patriots who loved their country and gave their lives to defend it:

[Names redacted.]

They came from different corners of our country -- men and women -- and each walked their own path to that rugged base in the mountains. Some had come to this work after a lifetime of protecting others -- in law enforcement, in the military; one was just a few years out of college.

Some had devoted years, decades, even, to unraveling the dark web of terrorists that threatened us; others, like so many of you, joined these ranks when 9/11 called a new generation to service. Some had spent years on dangerous tours around the globe; others had just arrived in harm’s way.

But there, at the remote outpost, they were bound by a common spirit. They heard their country’s call and answered it. They served in the shadows and took pride in it. They were doing their job and they loved it. They saw the danger and accepted it. They knew that the price of freedom is high and, in an awful instant, they paid that price.

There are no words that can ease the ache in your hearts. But to their colleagues and all who served with them -- those here today, those still recovering, those watching around the world -- I say: 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.

To their parents -- it is against the natural order of life for parents to lay their children to rest. Yet these weeks of solemn tribute have revealed for all to see -- that you raised remarkable sons and daughters. 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.

To the spouses -- your husbands and wives raised their hand and took an oath to protect and defend the country that they loved. They fulfilled that oath with their life. But they also took your hand and made a vow to you. And that bond of love endures, from this world to the next. Amidst grief that is sometimes unbearable, may you find some comfort in our vow to you -- that this agency, and this country, will stand with you and support you always.

And to the beautiful children -- I know that this must be so hard and confusing, but please always remember this. It wasn’t always easy for your mom or dad to leave home. But they went to another country to defend our country. And they gave their lives to protect yours. And as you grow, the best way to keep their memory alive and the highest tribute you can pay to them is to live as they lived, with honor and dignity and integrity.

They served in secrecy, but today every American can see their legacy. For the record of their service -- and of this generation of intelligence professionals -- is written all around us. It’s written in the extremists who no longer threaten our country -- because you eliminated them. It’s written in the attacks that never occurred -- because you thwarted them. And it’s written in the Americans, across this country and around the world, who are alive today -- because you saved them.

And should anyone here ever wonder whether your fellow citizens truly appreciate that service, you need only remember the extraordinary tributes of recent weeks: the thousands of Americans who have sat down at their computers and posted messages to seven heroes they never knew; in the outpouring of generosity to the memorial foundation that will help support these proud families.

And along a funeral procession in Massachusetts, in the freezing cold, mile after mile, friends and total strangers paying their respects, small children holding signs saying “thank you.” And a woman holding up a large American flag because, she said simply, “He died for me and my family.”

As a nation, we pledge to be there for you and your families. We need you more than ever. In an ever-changing world where new dangers emerge suddenly, we need you to be one step ahead of nimble adversaries. In this information age, we need you to sift through vast universes of data to find intelligence that can be acted upon swiftly. And in an era of technology and unmanned systems, we still need men and women like these seven -- professionals of skill and talent and courage who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation.

Because of them, because of you, a child born in America today is welcomed into a country that is proud and confident, strong and hopeful -- just as Molly Roberson welcomed her daughter Piper this week, both of whom join us today. Piper will never know her dad, Scott. But thanks to Molly, she will know what her father stood for -- a man who served his country, who did his duty, and who gave his life to keep her safe.

And on some distant day, years from now, when she is grown, if Piper -- or any of these children -- seeks to understand for themselves, they’ll need only come here -- to Langley, through these doors, and stand before that proud Memorial Wall that honors the fallen.

And perhaps they’ll run their fingers over the stars that recall their parent’s service. Perhaps they’ll walk over to that Book of Honor, turn the pages, and see their parent’s names. And at that moment of quiet reflection, they will see what we all know today -- that our nation is blessed to have men and women such as these. That we are humbled by their service, that we give thanks for every day that you keep us safe.

May God bless these seven patriots, may he watch over their families. And may God bless the United States of America.

***

Excerpts from Remarks by CIA Director Leon E. Panetta
At Memorial Service Held at CIA Headquarters for Those Who Fell In The Line Of Duty In Afghanistan On December 30, 2009

Mr. President, Honored Guests, my colleagues from the CIA, Ladies and Gentlemen: Today we come together to honor seven courageous men and women. And to their loved ones, we come together to offer our comfort, our support, and our lasting gratitude.

As Director, I have never had a more difficult duty than to bid farewell to colleagues taken from us. From Dover, to the family services, to this memorial, it is tough to say good-bye. Within this Agency, they were more than co-workers or friends—they were part of our family. And as family, even knowing that God has a plan for each human life, it’s hard to accept the sudden loss of so many good and decent people.

Thank you, Mr. President, for being here–you honor us with your presence, and I thank you. Thank you, Madam Speaker—you also honor us with your presence. We are also joined this morning by many senior officials—from the Intelligence Community, the White House, the Congress, the Pentagon, and many other places. You, too, are part of our family, because the responsibility to protect and defend the nation belongs to all of us. On behalf of the entire Agency, I thank you for your support, both public and private, during these difficult days. Your presence here is important to all of us.

The deepest grief, of course, is felt by those who knew our officers best and who loved them most—who called them husband and wife, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother.

Despite the pain and the grief, the families of our fallen have been pillars of strength. As tragic as this event has been, you are our inspiration. Thank you for sharing with us your loved ones—these extraordinary people. All they are and all they achieved is because of you. We simply cannot do these jobs—we can’t do these jobs—without the love and support of our families. We are forever grateful for the support and for the love. We are forever grateful for the sacrifices all of you made as they faithfully served our nation. We are honored to have you as part of the CIA family because, in a very real way, your love is what made them patriots. They gave their lives because they loved you—and they wanted all of us, and all of you—to have a safer nation.

Six decades ago, Adlai Stevenson famously described patriotism as “the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” What he said next was equally important, and I quote: “These are words that are easy to utter. But this is a mighty assignment. For it is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.”

The men and women we remember today are genuine patriots. They took on that mighty assignment. They not only fought for this nation, they lived up to our highest principles. They understood that America is more than a place. It is the keeper of our ideal—that all people deserve to live in freedom and without fear.

Devotion to that ideal brought our colleagues to Khowst, that little known outpost in Afghanistan. Like others before them, they stepped forward to perform a very dangerous, but essential, mission. They collected intelligence—which was what they were trained to do—that simply cannot be obtained anywhere else. With courage and skill, they worked to defeat the most urgent threat of our time. And as they worked to protect lives, they sacrificed their own. For this, we honor them—now and always.

***************************************************

These remarkable men and women are the story of America. They are the heart and soul of this great country. Their devotion to duty is the foundation of our country. Throughout history, our nation’s strength has rested on the service and the sacrifice of individual Americans—brave warriors who believed that the life of the nation was worth their own lives. The officers killed and wounded on December 30th upheld that enduring truth.

In silent service to our country, they accepted great risks, and they bore heavy burdens. They can rest now in the knowledge that they did their duty: They helped to keep our nation safe.

In their name and in their honor, the men and women of CIA will carry on their noble mission. Each of their stars—stars that we see here—will be emblazoned on our Memorial Wall, and will forever be a reminder of their sacrifice—and will forever be an inspiration to carry on their mission. For this Agency—by virtue of its purpose and its people—we find strength in adversity. We are on the front lines. We will carry this fight to the enemy. Our resolve is unbroken, our energy undiminished, and our dedication to each other and to our nation, unshakable.

12:42 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. And I appreciate the warm welcome from Rick Cummings and Dennis Bean and all the folks at Oasis. Thank you so much. These guys are experts in heating and cooling systems -- though, having spent some time in Washington, I actually am already very familiar with hot air I have to say. (Laughter.)

That, by the way, does not apply to the head of the Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, who's here today. And Karen has focused like a laser on helping small businesses not only survive but to thrive amidst the economic storm of the past two years.

We're also joined here by Ruth Gresser, who's the owner and chef at Pizzeria Paradiso. And I'm a little upset with Ruth because she did not bring samples, but Reggie Love has testified that the pizza is outstanding -- she's got restaurants in Washington. And also, Will Polak, who's the owner and operator of the Potomac Riverboat Company in Alexandria, Virginia. There's Will.

These folks know, as every living soul in America does, that these have been a rough couple of years for our economy and for out country -- the deepest downturn since the Great Depression ripped through our economy, costing more than 8 million jobs and rocking businesses, large and small.

And that's why we took some very tough steps, in some cases some unpopular steps, when I took office to break the back of this recession. And today we received additional news suggesting that we are climbing out of the huge hole that we found ourselves in. Last January, the month I took office, almost 800,000 Americans lost their jobs. Today we learned the job losses for this January were 20,000. The unemployment rate dropped below 10 percent for the first time since the summer. Manufacturing employment grew last month for the first time in three years, led by increased activity in the production of cars and trucks and auto parts.

These numbers, while positive, are a cause for hope but not celebration, because far too many of our neighbors and friends and family are still out of work. We can't be satisfied when another 20,000 have joined their ranks and millions more Americans are under-employed, picking up what work they can.

It is encouraging the job loss in January was a small fraction of what it was a year ago and that the unemployment rate last month went down and not up. Understanding that these numbers will continue to fluctuate for months to come, these are welcome, if modest, signs of progress along the road to recovery.

Now, even as we take additional steps to hasten that recovery, we know that there are limits to what government can do to create jobs. The true engine of job creation will always be businesses. What government can do is fuel that engine by giving entrepreneurs and companies the support to open their doors and to expand and to hire more workers. That's exactly what this administration intends to do and what we've been doing working with the SBA and Karen Mills.

We're starting with small businesses because that's where most of the new jobs do. Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created roughly 65 percent of new jobs in America. These are companies formed around kitchen tables and family meetings; formed when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream; formed when a worker decides it's time she became her own boss. And it's worth remembering every once in a while, a small business becomes a big business, and then changes the world.

And that's why, last week, I proposed a new small business tax credit -- $5,000 for every new employee you hire this year. And a couple of these folks here, small business owners who I talked to, said they'd be interested in using that tax credit.

This week I proposed a new small business lending fund that would take $30 billion of the fund originally used to rescue big banks on Wall Street, and use it to provide lending capital to community banks on Main Street. And I know that we've got Capital One Bank here that's been a lender to Oasis and --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Capital Bank --

THE PRESIDENT: Capital Bank -- excuse me -- and we appreciate the good work that you've done supporting this company.

Under Karen Mills, SBA has increased loan guarantees and reduced fees, steps that have increased SBA lending by 86 percent. And we've called for legislation to increase SBA loan limits to allow us to guarantee loans of up to $5 million compared with $2 million now.

And today I'm taking yet another step to assist small business owners get the capital that they need to grow and to hire. I'm proposing legislation that allows firms to refinance their commercial real estate loans, their mortgages under the SBA.

Right now even companies with great credit histories are facing challenges refinancing at what are historically low rates. Property values have fallen and lending has dropped. As a result, many businesses that would otherwise survive this downturn are at risk of defaulting, which in turn will lead to even lower property values and less lending, not to mention lost jobs.

In addition, I'm also proposing that we increase the limits for SBA loans used for lines of credit and working capital, something that I know could benefit Ruth's business and countless others.

The truth is the economy can be growing like gangbusters for years on end and it's still not easy to run a small business. It's not easy to stay ahead of your competitors; it's not easy to keep your costs down, to do right by your employees, to constantly innovate and adapt in a changing world. Talking to Ruth, she reminds me it's not easy keeping up with health care costs, and so Ruth is very anxious to see health reform passed so that small businesses can pick up the cost for their employees.

And in this deep and lasting recession, a hard job has been that much harder because for much of last year people weren't buying and customers weren't calling and banks were not lending. But even in the face of these obstacles, even in these tough times, all across the country there are people like Rick and Dennis and Ruth and Will who haven't given up. You guys wake up every day and seek a way to safely navigate these troubled waters to fulfill your obligations to your families and to your employees and your customers. And in that determination, that resolve, you embody what's best in America and you keep making America stronger.

Next week, Congress will start debating many of the jobs proposals I've outlined today and in recent days, many of the proposals to benefit small business, many of the proposals to spur hiring. If there are additional ideas from either party, I'm happy to consider them, as well. But what I hope -- what I strongly urge -- is that we work quickly and we work together to get this done. America's small businesses are counting on us.

So thank you very much, everybody. And thank you, guys.

END
12:50 P.M. EST

Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the snowstorm in the counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, and Salem.

In addition, assistance is available to State and eligible local governments on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures, including snow assistance, for a continuous 48-hour period during or proximate to the incident period.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Stephen M. DeBlasio Sr. as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  FEMA (202) 646-3272.

WASHINGTON – Today in Lanham, Maryland, President Obama proposed the expansion of two critical Small Business Administration (SBA) lending programs, aimed at allowing small businesses to refinance and increasing limits for working capital. These are both legislative proposals designed to help small businesses through what continues to be a difficult period in credit markets.

President Obama said, “The true engine of job creation will always be businesses. What government can do is fuel that engine: by giving entrepreneurs and companies the support to open their doors, expand, and hire more workers. Today, we're taking another step towards assisting small business owners get the capital they need to grow and hire.”

SBA Administrator Karen Mills said, “These proposals will provide us with two effective tools to help small businesses meet specific challenges brought on by the recession. First, in the tight credit market of the last two years, lines of credits have been cut for small firms. Raising the limit on SBA Express loans to $1 million will mean more small business owners will have quicker access to this source of capital to help restock inventories and support larger revenue sales, and literally take that next step to grow their business and create new jobs. Second, thousands of good, creditworthy businesses find themselves caught by declining real estate values as a result of this recession. With many of them now facing mortgages coming due in the next few years, the ability to refinance into SBA’s 504 loan will give them the chance to lock in long-term, stable financing, as well as protect jobs by protecting small businesses from foreclosure.”

Details of the President’s new small business initiatives are below:

1. Expand SBA’s existing program to temporarily support refinancing for owner-occupied commercial real estate loans:

The Administration is proposing legislation to temporarily allow for the refinancing of owner-occupied commercial real estate (CRE) loans under the SBA’s 504 program, which provides guarantees on loans for the development of real estate and other fixed assets.  Currently, 504 loans cannot be used for the refinancing of maturing debt.  This change would respond to the difficulties many current, solvent borrowers face in refinancing existing commercial real estate loans.

Businesses with a loan maturing in the next year who are current on all loan payments will be eligible. Lenders that are refinancing mortgages for existing customers will make a loan for up to 70 percent of the current property value; and SBA will help finance the remaining 20 percent.  For new lenders taking on a refinancing project, SBA will take on a greater share of financing, up to 40 percent. SBA’s proposal for a temporary, zero-subsidy CRE refinancing program would be funded through additional fees for refinancing projects, not through a Congressional appropriation. This proposal will help refinance up to $18.7 billion each year in commercial real estate that might otherwise be foreclosed and liquidated.

2. Temporarily increase the cap on SBA Express loans from $350,000 to $1 million:

The President is proposing to temporarily increase the maximum SBA Express loan size to $1 million, which would expand the program’s ability to help a broad range of small businesses through a streamlined approval process. Unlike traditional 7(a) loans, lenders can use their own paperwork for SBA Express loans, which can be structured as revolving lines of credit.  Currently, these Express loans are capped at $350,000 and carry a 50 percent guarantee. Fees would cover virtually all of the added costs of this proposal.

These proposals complement the President’s broader small business agenda - a key part of his overall jobs plan. The other elements of the small business agenda include:

Let's be clear: Sen. Shelby is preventing qualified nominees who will help protect the American people from being confirmed.  He’s not alone, though.  This is just the latest example of this kind opposition for opposition’s sake that the President talked about earlier this week..  This strategy of obstruction is preventing qualified people from doing their jobs on behalf of the American people and it’s preventing real work from getting done in Washington.  Every minute spent needlessly blocking noncontroversial nominees, many of whom go on to be confirmed by 70 or more votes or by voice vote (nine of the President’s nominees so far), is a minute not spent on the issues that matter to American families. 

As I noted yesterday, this is true of the legislative process, too.  The Senate cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and '60s combined, making it nearly impossible to come to agreement on key legislation.

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

President Obama, in his State of the Union address this year, called for “making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.”  This was a welcome development from the President.  Perhaps he was listening to the American people.  But as yesterday’s Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire blog pointed out, his Administration is instead trying to conceal the fact that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of more American energy:

An email last fall from a top Interior Department official indicates public comments ran two-to-one in favor of a Bush administration plan to expand offshore drilling.

The email from Liz Birnbaum, director of the Minerals Management Service which manages the nation’s offshore oil and natural gas reserves, also suggests how Interior Secretary Ken Salazar could avoid publicly acknowledging the support for the plan, which calls for opening the Atlantic seaboard to drilling, a step many environmentalists and some Democrats oppose.

The Secretary may get questions about this [Freedom of Information Act] request while he’s in Houston … We do have a preliminary tabulation of the comments, it has not yet gone to the Secretary,’ according to the email dated last Oct. 27 and sent to several Salazar aides. ‘So the Secretary can honestly say in response to any questions that he’s [SIC] has not yet seen the analysis of the comments - staff is still working on it. I did, however, confirm to him the 2-1 split that these guys are emphasizing.’…

The proposal, published by the Bush administration on its last business day in office, is awaiting a decision by Salazar. Shortly after taking office, Salazar extended the public comment period by 180 days. Oil and gas industry officials and Republicans accused the secretary of foot-dragging.

The department said in September, after the comment period ended, that it received more than 530,000 comments, but didn’t say how many were in favor or opposed.

At a time when the American people are asking “where are the jobs?” why is the Obama Administration sitting on its hands when expanding domestic production of energy in an environmentally safe way would create thousands of good paying jobs?

• SAFRA will not lead to significant job losses. While this legislation will trim the profits of CEOs and big banks, it will not lead to significant job losses. By maintaining a servicing role for both large and smaller lenders, this bill will preserve jobs and, unlike in the FFELP program, keep them from being shipped overseas.
  

• The current lending system is broken. The Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) now depends on taxpayer dollars not just for subsidies that reimburse lenders when borrowers default on loans, but also for the capital to finance their lending activity altogether. Taxpayers now fund 6 of every 10 dollars in federal student lending activity. They absorb all the risk. There’s simply no reason to keep pumping taxpayer dollars into a broken system when the federal government can provide the same low-cost federal loans more reliably for students and at a lower cost for taxpayers. Under this bill, this federal program will continue to be a federal program, as it always has been, and private industry will continue to have a role, but one that is more effective and cost-efficient for families and taxpayers.
  

• There would actually be fewer student loan defaults under SAFRA. Recent preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Education shows that in 2007, default rates were lower in the Direct Loan program than in FFELP. By allowing private lenders to service these loans through a competitive process, which will include default prevention strategies, this bill will ensure that more borrowers can receive service from lenders that have been effective in keeping default rates low.

• Sallie Mae's alternative saves less and puts more money in lenders' pockets, instead of helping students.  Sallie Mae's modified student loan proposal would slash more than $8 billion off of student aid to give lenders a bonus. “You can dress this up 100 different ways and put a Santa Hat on it, but this is still the same budget gimmick lenders have been pushing for months to line their own pockets with billions of dollars that should be used to help students,” said Chairman Miller. “The House saw this proposal for what it was and soundly rejected it, instead choosing to pass the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which invests all of its savings in students, families and taxpayers. Americans are sick and tired of CEOs and banks taking them for a ride and are ready for policies that will reduce waste and excess and do what’s best for Main Street – not Wall Street.”
  

• Students themselves are clamoring for SAFRA.  Most recently, Baylor University's college newspaper The Lariat published a story supportive of SAFRA. 
  

• Colleges are finding it easier than anticipated to switch to the Direct Loan program.  A survey conducted by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators shows that colleges that switched from the federally-guaranteed student loan program to the Direct Loan program in the past year generally found it much easier than they expected.

Sallie Mae, a publicly traded company that is the nation’s biggest student lender with $22 billion in loans originated last year, led the field in spending $8 million on lobbying in 2009, more than double the year before, and other lenders spent millions of dollars more, according to an analysis prepared for The New York Times by the Center for Responsive Politics.

...

“We anticipated this,” Arne Duncan, the education secretary, said of the lending industry’s lobbying efforts. “They’ve had a sweet deal. They’ve had this phenomenal deal that taxpayers have subsidized, and that’s a hard thing to give up.”

Private lenders get a cut of the federally backed loans that they originate and service, with little risk of their own.

...

“If people want to lose $80 billion on the taxpayer’s dime for the very narrow interests of Sallie Mae, I guess they can decide that, but it makes no economic sense to me,” [Chairman George Miller] said. “They had a great ride for years.”

On the Employment Situation in January

Posted by Christina Romer on February 05, 2010 at 09:30 AM EST

While unemployment remains a severe problem, today’s employment report contains encouraging signs of gradual labor market healing.  The unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point and employment rose in a number of industries, though overall employment fell slightly.

The unemployment rate declined from 10.0 percent to 9.7 percent.  This decline occurred despite a modest rise in the labor force.  The broadest measure of the unemployment rate, which includes all persons marginally attached to the labor force and workers working part time for economic reasons, fell almost a full percentage point.  Obviously, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high, and is even worse for certain demographic groups such as teenagers and black or African American workers.

Overall payroll employment declined 20,000 in December.  This total reflects substantial variation across industries.  Employment in manufacturing rose for the first time since January 2007, led by an increase in employment in motor vehicles and parts.  Employment also rose in retail trade and in temporary help employment.  Employment fell, however, in construction and state and local government.

Even as today’s numbers contain signs of the beginning of recovery, they are also a reminder of how far we still have to go to return the economy to robust health and full employment.  Indeed, with the benchmark revision announced today, we now know that the total job loss over the recession was more than 1 million larger than previously estimated.  That is why at the same time that he released a plan for reining in the budget deficit over the medium and long run, the President has called on Congress to enact responsible, targeted actions to jump-start job creation.  His proposals for a small business jobs and wages tax cut and a new program to encourage small business lending are important steps to help the businesses that are essential to robust job creation.  Today’s numbers showing continued decline in construction and state and local government employment emphasize the importance of two other of the President’s priorities—continued infrastructure investment and additional aid for strapped state and local governments.

There will likely be bumps in the road ahead.  The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and subject to substantial revision.  Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.  It is essential that we continue our efforts to move in the right direction and replace job losses with robust job gains.

Christina Romer is Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

The unemployment rate declined from 10.0 percent to 9.7 percent.  This decline occurred despite a modest rise in the labor force.  The broadest measure of the unemployment rate, which includes all persons marginally attached to the labor force and workers working part time for economic reasons, fell almost a full percentage point.  Obviously, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high, and is even worse for certain demographic groups such as teenagers and black or African American workers.
 
Overall payroll employment declined 20,000 in December.  This total reflects substantial variation across industries.  Employment in manufacturing rose for the first time since January 2007, led by an increase in employment in motor vehicles and parts.  Employment also rose in retail trade and in temporary help employment.  Employment fell, however, in construction and state and local government.

Even as today’s numbers contain signs of the beginning of recovery, they are also a reminder of how far we still have to go to return the economy to robust health and full employment.  Indeed, with the benchmark revision announced today, we now know that the total job loss over the recession was more than 1 million larger than previously estimated.  That is why at the same time that he released a plan for reining in the budget deficit over the medium and long run, the President has called on Congress to enact responsible, targeted actions to jump-start job creation.  His proposals for a small business jobs and wages tax cut and a new program to encourage small business lending are important steps to help the businesses that are essential to robust job creation.  Today’s numbers showing continued decline in construction and state and local government employment emphasize the importance of two other of the President’s priorities—continued infrastructure investment and additional aid for strapped state and local governments.

There will likely be bumps in the road ahead.  The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and subject to substantial revision.  Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative.  It is essential that we continue our efforts to move in the right direction and replace job losses with robust job gains.

Christina Romer is Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

8:05 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Please, everybody, have a seat.  Especially Tom McMullen and Dikembe Mutombo.  (Laughter.) Every time I stand next to them I look like a little kid.  (Laughter.)

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.)

END
8:27 P.M. EST

Capital Hilton
Washington, D.C.

6:15 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Thank you. Well --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes we can!

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 naïve; 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.)

END
7:01 P.M. EST

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Mark Warner released the following statement today on the announcement by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd on bipartisan negotiations for financial regulatory reform:

“Chairman Dodd made an important decision last November to create a bipartisan process to our efforts on financial re-regulation, and I know he remains as committed today to passing a bipartisan bill.

“I have been able to make important progress with Senator Corker, who has been a tremendous working partner. We have not agreed on every issue, but we continue to agree on the need for strong reform of the financial sector. I have every confidence that our proposed solutions to address systemic risk and “too big to fail” will be bipartisan, and Chairman Dodd has assured me that our progress will be reflected in any legislation that moves forward.

 

“It has been almost two years since Bear Stearns collapsed, and 18 months since Lehman Brothers went into Chapter 11 and AIG was bailed-out by the taxpayers. We must move forward to modernize our regulations in order to restore American leadership in global financial markets.”

###

Senator Warner appeared on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" this afternoon to discuss the need for Congress to stay focused on re-booting the sluggish economy.

Unemployment numbers released today showed an unexpected drop to a five-month low, and Senator Warmer said that even more needs to be done to help small businesses that are struggling:

"We've got to do more. But at the end of the day, while the government can do certain things, the most important creator of new jobs is going to be the private sector, particularly small businesses."

He also discussed some of his frustrations with the partisanship and occasional hypocrisy seen on Capitol Hill and said he would continue to work for bipartisan cooperation.  You can watch the entire interview below:

Michelle A. from Chicago wrote: "I had been looking forward to this for a couple days now and was eager to see how the President would handle the questioning. Needless to say he did great. He gave in depth answers to some pretty tough questions. Hopefully he will do something like this again."

Kevin R. from Naperville said: "Great showing by the President. I really hope he gets the credit he deserves from doing all these question and answer sessions because there aren’t many of them who would be willing or able to handle them like President Obama does."

Kendra T. from Galesburg writes: "Job well done Mr. President. Your ability to provide answers to some of the most complex issues, without missing a beat, is truly remarkable"

Kyla H. from Springfield tells us: "I got a chance to watch this with a couple friends, some of which were registered Republicans. When it was finished, even they were hard pressed not to admit what a good job the President had done."

Hunter L. from Peoria wrote: "I was interested to see what type of questions would make their way to the actual presentation. President Obama sure didn't shy away from the tough ones - not only did he answer them, but he explained his answers, rather than giving the usual, party line catch phrase."

Chloe C. in Lincoln Park said: "The President gets two thumbs up in my book. He did an amazing job!"

Marvin M. who lives in Skokie (and is a self proclaimed Conservative for life): "While I can't say that I agree with everything the President has to say, I would be lying if I didn't admit that I'm pleasantly impressed with his accessibility and interaction with both the public and members of Congress. I wish more elected officials would have these questions and answer sessions with folks who are impacted by the decisions made in Washington."

• Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
• Find an OFA Illinois Event Near You: CLICK HERE
• Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Michelle A. from Chicago wrote: "I had been looking forward to this for a couple days now and was eager to see how the President would handle the questioning. Needless to say he did great. He gave in depth answers to some pretty tough questions. Hopefully he will do something like this again."

Kevin R. from Naperville said: "Great showing by the President. I really hope he gets the credit he deserves from doing all these question and answer sessions because there aren’t many of them who would be willing or able to handle them like President Obama does."

Kendra T. from Galesburg writes: "Job well done Mr. President. Your ability to provide answers to some of the most complex issues, without missing a beat, is truly remarkable"

Kyla H. from Springfield tells us: "I got a chance to watch this with a couple friends, some of which were registered Republicans. When it was finished, even they were hard pressed not to admit what a good job the President had done."

Hunter L. from Peoria wrote: "I was interested to see what type of questions would make their way to the actual presentation. President Obama sure didn't shy away from the tough ones - not only did he answer them, but he explained his answers, rather than giving the usual, party line catch phrase."

Chloe C. in Lincoln Park said: "The President gets two thumbs up in my book. He did an amazing job!"

Marvin M. who lives in Skokie (and is a self proclaimed Conservative for life): "While I can't say that I agree with everything the President has to say, I would be lying if I didn't admit that I'm pleasantly impressed with his accessibility and interaction with both the public and members of Congress. I wish more elected officials would have these questions and answer sessions with folks who are impacted by the decisions made in Washington."

• Join Organizing for America Illinois: CLICK HERE
• Find an OFA Illinois Event Near You: CLICK HERE
• Follow Organizing for America Illinois on Twitter: CLICK HERE

Juan was born in El Paso, Texas and moved to Las Vegas with his family over nine years ago.  He attended Canyon Springs High School as a Magnet student in the leadership program.  This 20 year old is the youngest staff member of the Nevada OFA Team, but don’t let his age fool you.  Juan has been involved in Nevada politics since his senior year in high school, when he served as an intern for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.  Juan joined the American Dream Campaign to work on youth outreach during the Obama campaign and then organized home healthcare workers as an Apprentice for SEIU. He has since remained involved in Nevada politics and has become a voice for the Latino community 

Loving high fashion and all things Lady GaGa, Juan keeps the office upbeat and informed with all the latest music and fashion news. Juan plans to continue his education and would like to attend New York University in the future.   

What inspired you to get involved?  

I initially began an internship with the Clinton campaign to satisfy my course requirements to graduate Canyon Spring High School.  Two short days into my internship, I realized I had found something I truly loved – politics.  I soon realized that I had to be part of helping elect a new president.  My apprenticeship with SEIU was a perfect transition from Clinton campaign to the Obama campaign.  I wanted to help elect the next president of the United States 

What is your favorite or most satisfying aspect of your work?  

I love having the ability to make an impact, helping out the community and being a voice for those who traditionally haven’t had a voice.  Working for OFA allows me to do that and to empower volunteers. 

What has been the highlight of your time with OFA?  

The highlight of my time with OFA has been the opportunity to meet new people every day.  Volunteers are the heart of our program.  I am thankful for all the people I’ve meet while here.  I work with great volunteers. 

Why should people get involved with Organizing for America?  

 If people want to make a difference or just understand politics better, OFA is a great organization to get involved in. At OFA, volunteers participate in service for their communities and gain a sense of pride knowing that their efforts are truly making a difference in the lives of others.  

• Find an Event Near You: CLICK HERE
• Follow Organizing for America Nevada on Twitter: CLICK HERE
• Become a Supporter of Organizing for America Nevada on Facebook: CLICK HERE

Black carbon is a particle pollutant -- a component of soot and smoke -- that is emitted during the burning of fossil fuels and biomass. Finding solutions that reduce black carbon pollution is an important step in the fight against climate change.

On February 11, 2010 the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. in room 2175 Rayburn House Office Building entitled: “Clearing the Smoke: Understanding the Impacts of Black Carbon Pollution.”

WHAT: Select Committee hearing on Understanding the Impacts of Black Carbon Pollution
WHEN: February 11th, 2010, 9:30 a.m.
WHERE:  2175 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC, Capital Complex and on the web at globalwarming.house.gov
WHO: Witnesses to be announced

This week, the Obama Administration again pledged its support for Fitzsimons when it included $450.7 million for the new VA medical center in the President's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011. With comprehensive specialty care services, including a 30-bed Spinal Cord Injury Center, the new medical center will provide a full range of medical, laboratory, research, and counseling services.

The men and women of Colorado, who have fought bravely for this country, deserve the best health care we can provide. Last year, I was proud to fight successfully to ensure construction of a new Community Living Center, Outpatient Clinic, and parking facilities could begin, and I will continue fighting this year to ensure the plans to finish the hospital stay on track.

Read the bill: Charlie-Wolf-Nuclear-Workers-Compensation-Act.pdf