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Washington Post
State of the Union 2013: President Obama’s
address to Congress (Transcript)
February 12, 2013
Here is a full transcript of President Obama’s
2013 State of the Union address as delivered.
Click here for a video of the speech
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Please, everybody,
have a seat.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of
Congress, fellow Americans, 51 years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this
chamber that “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power, but partners for
progress.”
(APPLAUSE)
“It is my task,” he said, “to report the state
of the union. To improve it is the task of us all.”
Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination
of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of
grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home.
(APPLAUSE)
After years of grueling recession, our
businesses have created over 6 million new jobs. We buy more American cars than
we have in five years and less foreign oil than we have in 20.
(APPLAUSE)
Our housing market is healing, our stock market
is rebounding, and consumers, patients and homeowners enjoy stronger
protections than ever before.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: So, together, we have cleared away the
rubble of crisis, and we can say with renewed confidence that the state of our
union is stronger.
(APPLAUSE)
But -- but we gather here knowing that there
are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been
rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs, but too many people still can’t find
full- time employment. Corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs,
but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged. It is our
generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic
growth: a rising, thriving middle class.
(APPLAUSE)
It is -- it is our unfinished task to restore
the basic bargain that built this country, the idea that if you work hard and
meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from,
no matter what you look like or who you love.
It is our unfinished task to make sure that
this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few, that it
encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors
of opportunity to every child across this great nation.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: The American people don’t expect
government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this
chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s
interests before party.
(APPLAUSE)
They do expect us to forge reasonable
compromise where we can, for they know that America moves forward only when we
do so together and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the
task of us all.
Our work must begin by making some basic
decisions about our budget, decisions that will have a huge impact on the
strength of our recovery. Over the last few years, both parties have worked
together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, mostly through
spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of
Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4
trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our
finances.
Now we need to finish the job. And the question
is: How?
In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both
parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion
dollars’ worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year.
These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness,
they’d devastate priorities like education and energy and medical research.
They would certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of
jobs. And that’s why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists
have already said that these cuts -- known here in Washington as “the
sequester” -- are a really bad idea.
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Now, some in this Congress have proposed
preventing only the defense cuts by making even bigger cuts to things like
education and job training, Medicare and Social Security benefits. That idea is
even worse.
(APPLAUSE)
Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt
is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And those of us who
care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest
reforms. Otherwise, our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we
need for our children and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for
future generations.
But we can’t ask senior citizens and working
families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking
nothing more from the wealthiest and the most powerful.
(APPLAUSE)
We won’t grow the middle class simply by
shifting the cost of health care or college onto families that are already
struggling or by forcing communities to lay off more teachers and more cops and
more firefighters. Most Americans -- Democrats, Republicans and independents --
understand that we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. They know that
broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction,
with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody doing their fair share.
And that’s the approach I offer tonight. On
Medicare, I’m prepared to enact reforms that will achieve the same amount of
health care savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed
by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.
(APPLAUSE)
Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to
slow the growth of health care costs.
(APPLAUSE)
And -- and the reforms I’m proposing go even
further. We’ll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask
more from the wealthiest seniors.
(APPLAUSE)
We’ll bring down costs by changing the way our
government pays for Medicare, because our medical bills shouldn’t be based on
the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital. They should be based
on the quality of care that our seniors receive.
(APPLAUSE)
And I am open to additional reforms from both
parties, so long as they don’t violate the guarantee of a secure retirement.
Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep, but we must keep the
promises we’ve already made.
(APPLAUSE)
To hit the rest of our deficit reduction
target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested and
save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and
deductions for the well-off and the well-connected. After all, why would we
choose to make deeper cuts to education and Medicare just to protect special
interest tax breaks? How is that fair? Why is it that deficit reduction is a
big emergency, justifying making cuts in Social Security benefits, but not
closing some loopholes? How does that promote growth?
(APPLAUSE)
Now is our best chance for bipartisan,
comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the
deficit.
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(APPLAUSE)
We can get this done.
(APPLAUSE)
The American people deserve a tax code that
helps small businesses spend less time filling out complicated forms and more
time expanding and hiring, a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-
powered accountants can’t work the system and pay a lower rate than their
hard-working secretaries, a tax code that lowers incentives to move jobs
overseas and lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that are creating
jobs right here in the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
That’s what tax reform can deliver. That’s what
we can do together.
(APPLAUSE)
I realize that tax reform and entitlement
reform will not be easy. The politics will be hard for both sides. None of us
will get 100 percent of what we want. But the alternative will cost us jobs,
hurt our economy, visit hardship on millions of hardworking Americans.
So let’s set party interests aside and work to
pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise
investments in our future. And let’s do it without the brinksmanship that
stresses consumers and scares off investors.
(APPLAUSE)
The greatest nation on Earth -- the greatest
nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one
manufactured crisis to the next. We can’t do it.
(APPLAUSE)
Let’s agree -- let’s agree, right here, right
now, to keep the people’s government open and pay our bills on time and always
uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
The American people have worked too hard, for
too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause
another. Now...
(APPLAUSE)
... most of us agree that a plan to reduce the
deficit must be part of our agenda. But let’s be clear: Deficit reduction alone
is not an economic plan.
(APPLAUSE)
A growing economy that creates good,
middle-class jobs, that must be the North Star that guides our efforts.
(APPLAUSE)
Every day, we should ask ourselves three
questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we
equip our people with the skills they need to get those jobs? And how do we
make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?
OBAMA: A year-and-a-half ago, I put forward an
American Jobs Act that independent economists said would create more than 1
million new jobs. And I thank the last Congress for passing some of that
agenda; I urge this Congress to pass the rest. But...
(APPLAUSE)
... tonight I’ll lay out additional proposals
that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both
parties agreed to just 18 months ago. Let me repeat: Nothing I’m proposing
tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It is not a bigger
government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests
in broad-based growth.
(APPLAUSE)
That’s what we should be looking for.
(APPLAUSE)
Our first priority is making America a magnet
for new jobs and manufacturing. After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our
manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is
bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. And this
year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.
(APPLAUSE)
There are things we can do, right now, to
accelerate this trend. Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation
institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the
art lab where new workers are mastering the 3-D printing that has the potential
to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s no reason this
can’t happen in other towns.
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So tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three
more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the
Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization
into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a
network of 15 of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in
manufacturing is made right here in America. We can get that done.
(APPLAUSE) Now, if we want to make the best
products, we also have -- have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we
invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy. Every dollar.
Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to
Alzheimer’s. We’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs, devising new
materials to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut
these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to
reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the
space race. We need to make those investments.
(APPLAUSE)
Today, no area holds more promise than our
investments in American energy. After years of talking about it, we’re finally
poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we
have in 15 years.
(APPLAUSE)
We have doubled the distance our cars will go
on a gallon of gas and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources
like wind and solar, with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for
it. We produce more natural gas than ever before, and nearly everyone’s energy
bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the
dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.
But for the sake of our children and our
future, we must do more to combat climate change.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Now
(APPLAUSE)
Now, it’s true that no single event makes a
trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the
last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods, all are now more frequent and
more intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most
severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen
were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the
overwhelming judgment of science and act before it’s too late.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, the good news is, we can make meaningful
progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this
Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate
change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few
years ago.
But if Congress won’t act soon to protect
future generations, I will. I will direct...
(APPLAUSE)
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I will direct my cabinet to come up with
executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution,
prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the
transition to more sustainable sources of energy.
Now, four years ago, other countries dominated
the clean-energy market and the jobs that came with it. And we’ve begun to
change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity
in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year.
Let’s drive down costs even further. As long as countries like China keep going
all-in on clean energy, so must we.
Now, in the meantime, the natural gas boom has
led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage
that. That’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up
new oil and gas permits.
(APPLAUSE) That’s got to be part of an
all-of-the-above plan. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage
the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and
protects our air and our water.
In fact, much of our newfound energy is drawn
from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So tonight, I propose
we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that
will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for
good.
If a nonpartisan coalition of CEOs and retired
generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let’s take
their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in
gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.
I’m also issuing a new goal for America: Let’s
cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20
years.
(APPLAUSE)
We’ll work with the states to do it. Those
states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by
constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make
that happen.
America’s energy sector is just one part of an
aging infrastructure badly in need of repair. Ask any CEO where they’d rather
locate and hire, a country with deteriorating roads and bridges or one with
high-speed rail and Internet, high-tech schools, self- healing power grids.
The CEO of Siemens America -- a company that brought
hundreds of new jobs to North Carolina -- has said that if we upgrade our
infrastructure, they’ll bring even more jobs. And that’s the attitude of a lot
of companies all around the world. And I know you want these job-creating
projects in your district; I’ve seen all those ribbon- cuttings.
(LAUGHTER)
So, tonight, I propose a “Fix-It-First” program
to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the
nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country.
(APPLAUSE)
And to make sure taxpayers don’t shoulder the
whole burden, I’m also proposing a Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts
private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most: modern ports to move
our goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of our
children. (APPLAUSE)
Let’s prove there’s no better place to do
business than here in the United States of America, and let’s start right away.
We can get this done.
OBAMA: And part of our rebuilding effort must
also involve our housing sector. The good news is, our housing market is
finally healing from the collapse of 2007. Home prices are rising at the
fastest pace in six years. Home purchases are up nearly 50 percent. And
construction is expanding again.
But even with mortgage rates near a 50-year
low, too many families with solid credit who want to buy a home are being
rejected. Too many families who have never missed a payment and want to
refinance are being told no. That’s holding our entire economy back. We need to
fix it.
Right now, there’s a bill in this Congress that
would give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a
year by refinancing at today’s rates. Democrats and Republicans have supported
it before. So what are we waiting for? Take a vote and send me that bill.
(APPLAUSE)
Why are -- why would we be against that?
(APPLAUSE)
Why would that be a partisan issue, helping
folks refinance? Right now, overlapping regulations keep responsible young
families from buying their first home. What’s holding us back? Let’s streamline
the process and help our economy grow.
Now, these initiatives in manufacturing,
energy, infrastructure, housing, all these things will help entrepreneurs and
small-business owners expand and create new jobs. But none of it will matter
unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those
jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
And that has to start at the earliest possible
age. You know, study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning,
the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than three in ten
4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class
parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for
poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education
can shadow them for the rest of their lives.
So, tonight, I propose working with states to
make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America.
(APPLAUSE)
That’s something we should be able to do.
(APPLAUSE)
Every dollar we invest in high-quality early
childhood education can save more than seven dollars later on, by boosting
graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In
states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children -- like Georgia
or Oklahoma -- studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at
grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of
their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our
children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that
chance.
(APPLAUSE)
Let’s also make sure that a high school diploma
puts our kids on a path to a good job. Right now, countries like Germany focus
on graduating their high school students with the equivalent of a technical
degree from one of our community colleges, so those German kids, they’re ready
for a job when they graduate high school. They’ve been trained for the jobs
that are there.
Now at schools like P-TECH in Brooklyn, a
collaboration between New York public schools and City University of New York
and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate’s
degree in computers or engineering. We need to give every American student opportunities
like this. And four years ago...
(APPLAUSE)
Four years ago, we started Race to the Top, a
competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and
higher standards, all for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each
year.
OBAMA: Tonight, I’m announcing a new challenge,
to redesign America’s high schools so they better equip graduates for the
demands of a high-tech economy. And we’ll reward schools that develop new
partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on
science, technology, engineering and math, the skills today’s employers are
looking for to fill the jobs that are there right now and will be there in the
future.
Now, even with better high schools, most young
people will need some higher education. It’s a simple fact: The more education
you’ve got, the more likely you are to have a good job and work your way into
the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price too many young people out
of a higher education or saddle them with unsustainable debt.
Through tax credits, grants, and better loans,
we’ve made college more affordable for millions of students and families over
the last few years. But taxpayers can’t keep on subsidizing higher and higher
and higher costs for higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep
costs down, and it’s our job to make sure that they do.
(APPLAUSE)
So, tonight, I ask Congress to change the
Higher Education Act so that affordability and value are included in
determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid.
(APPLAUSE)
And -- and tomorrow, my Administration will
release a new college scorecard that parents and students can use to compare
schools based on a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your
educational buck.
Now, to grow our middle class, our citizens
have to have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require.
But we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone who’s
willing to work -- everybody who’s willing to work hard has the chance to get
ahead.
Our economy is stronger when we harness the
talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants.
(APPLAUSE)
And right now, leaders from the business,
labor, law enforcement, faith communities, they all agree that the time has
come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Now’s the time to do it.
(APPLAUSE)
Now’s the time to get it done.
(APPLAUSE)
Now’s the time to get it done.
(APPLAUSE)
Real reform means strong border security, and
we can build on the progress my administration’s already made, putting more
boots on the southern border than at any time in our history and reducing
illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.
Real reform means establishing a responsible
pathway to earned citizenship, a path that includes passing a background check,
paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back
of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.
(APPLAUSE)
And real reform means fixing the legal
immigration system to cut waiting periods and attract the highly skilled
entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy.
(APPLAUSE)
In other words, we know what needs to be done.
And as we speak, bipartisan groups in both chambers are working diligently to
draft a bill, and I applaud their efforts. So let’s get this done. Send me a
comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign
it right away. And America will be better for it.
(APPLAUSE)
Let’s get it done. Let’s get it done.
(APPLAUSE)
But we can’t stop there. We know our economy is
stronger when our wives, our mothers, our daughters can live their lives free
from discrimination in the workplace and free from the fear of domestic
violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women’s Act that Joe
Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. And I now urge the House to do the
same.
(APPLAUSE)
Good job, Joe
(APPLAUSE)
And I ask this Congress to declare that women
should earn a -- a living equal to their efforts and finally pass the Paycheck
Fairness Act this year.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We know our economy’s stronger when we
reward an honest day’s work with honest wages. But today, a full-time worker
making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. Even with the tax relief we’ve
put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives
below the poverty line. That’s wrong. That’s why, since the last time this
Congress raised the minimum wage, 19 states have chosen to bump theirs even higher.
Tonight, let’s declare that, in the wealthiest
nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty --
and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.
(APPLAUSE)
We should be able to get that done.
(APPLAUSE)
This single step would raise the incomes of
millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or
the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by or finally getting ahead. For
businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their
pockets.
And a whole lot of folks out there would
probably need less help from government. In fact, working folks shouldn’t have
to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up, while CEO pay has never
been higher. So here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on
last year: Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally
becomes a wage you can live on.
(APPLAUSE)
Tonight, let’s also recognize that there are
communities in this country where, no matter how hard you work, it is virtually
impossible to get ahead -- factory towns decimated from years of plants packing
up, inescapable pockets of poverty, urban and rural, where young adults are
still fighting for their first job.
America is not a place where the chance of
birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that’s why we need to
build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing
to climb them. Let’s offer incentives to companies that hire Americans who’ve got
what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that
no one will give them a chance anymore. Let’s put people back to work
rebuilding vacant homes in rundown neighborhoods.
And this year, my administration will begin to
partner with 20 of the hardest-hit towns in America to get these communities
back on their feet. And we’ll work with local leaders to target resources at
public safety and education and housing. We’ll give new tax credits to
businesses that hire and invest. And we’ll work to strengthen families by
removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low- income couples and do
more to encourage fatherhood, because what makes you a man isn’t the ability to
conceive a child, it’s having the courage to raise one. And we want to
encourage that. We want to help that.
(APPLAUSE)
Stronger families. Stronger communities. A
stronger America. It is this kind of prosperity -- broad, shared, built on a
thriving middle class -- that has always been the source of our progress at home.
It’s also the foundation of our power and influence throughout the world.
Tonight, we stand united in saluting the troops
and civilians who sacrifice every day to protect us. Because of them, we can
say with confidence that America will complete its mission in Afghanistan and
achieve our objective of defeating the core of Al Qaida.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Already we have brought home 33,000 of
our brave servicemen and women. This spring, our forces will move into a
support role, while Afghan security forces take the lead. Tonight, I can
announce that, over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come
home from Afghanistan. This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next
year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.
(APPLAUSE)
Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified
and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will
change. We’re negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses
on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does
not again slip into chaos and counterterrorism efforts that allow us to pursue
the remnants of Al Qaida and their affiliates.
Today, the organization that attacked us on
9/11 is a shadow of its former self.
(APPLAUSE)
It’s true, different Al Qaida affiliates and
extremist groups have emerged, from the Arabian Peninsula to Africa. The threat
these groups pose is evolving. But to meet this threat, we don’t need to send
tens of thousands of our sons and daughters abroad or occupy other nations. Instead,
we’ll need to help countries like Yemen, Libya, and Somalia provide for their
own security and help allies who take the fight to terrorists, as we have in
Mali. And, where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue
to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to
Americans. Now...
(APPLAUSE)
... as we do, we must enlist our values in the
fight. That’s why my administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable
legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism efforts. Throughout,
we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. And I recognize that, in
our democracy, no one should just take my word for it that we’re doing things
the right way. So, in the months ahead, I will continue to engage Congress to
ensure not only that our targeting, detention and prosecution of terrorists
remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that
our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.
Of course...
(APPLAUSE)
... our challenges don’t end with Al Qaida.
America will continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world’s
most dangerous weapons. The regime in North Korea must know, they will only
achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations.
Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only further isolate them, as
we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense, and lead the world
in taking firm action in response to these threats.
Likewise, the leaders of Iran must recognize
that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands
united in demanding that they meet their obligations. And we will do what is
necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon.
(APPLAUSE)
At the same time, we’ll engage Russia to seek
further reductions in our nuclear arsenals and continue leading the global
effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands,
because our ability to influence others depends on our willingness to lead and
meet our obligations.
America must also face the rapidly growing
threat from cyber attacks.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, we know hackers steal people’s identities
and infiltrate private e-mails. We know foreign countries and companies swipe
our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage
our power grid, our financial institutions, our air traffic control systems. We
cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of
real threats to our security and our economy.
That’s why, earlier today, I signed a new
executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing
information-sharing and developing standards to protect our national security,
our jobs, and our privacy.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: But now -- now Congress must act, as
well, by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to
secure our networks and deter attacks. This is something we should be able to
get done on a bipartisan basis.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, even as we protect our people, we should
remember that today’s world presents not just dangers, not just threats. It
presents opportunities. To boost American exports, support American jobs, and
level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete
negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership. And tonight, I’m announcing that
we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership with the European Union, because trade that is fair and free across
the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
We also know that progress in the most
impoverished parts of our world enriches us all, not only because it creates
new markets, more stable order in certain regions of the world, but also
because it’s the right thing to do.
You know, in many places, people live on little
more than a dollar a day. So the United States will join with our allies to
eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades, by connecting more
people to the global economy, by empowering women, by giving our young and
brightest minds new opportunities to serve and helping communities to feed and
power and educate themselves, by saving the world’s children from preventable
deaths, and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation, which is
within our reach.
(APPLAUSE)
You see...
(APPLAUSE)
You see, America must remain a beacon to all
who seek freedom during this period of historic change. I saw the power of hope
last year in Rangoon, in Burma, when Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed an American
president into the home where she had been imprisoned for years, when thousands
of Burmese lined the streets, waving American flags, including a man who said,
“There is justice and law in the United States. I want our country to be like that.”
In defense of freedom, we’ll remain the anchor
of strong alliances, from the Americas to Africa, from Europe to Asia. In the
Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights,
and support stable transitions to democracy.
(APPLAUSE)
We know the process will be messy, and we
cannot presume to dictate the course of change in countries like Egypt, but we
can -- and will -- insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people.
We’ll keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that
has murdered its own people and support opposition leaders that respect the
rights of every Syrian. And we will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of
security and a lasting peace.
(APPLAUSE)
These are the messages I’ll deliver when I
travel to the Middle East next month.
And all this work depends on the courage and
sacrifice of those who serve in dangerous places at great personal risk: our
diplomats, our intelligence officers, and the men and women of the United
States armed forces. As long as I’m commander-in-chief, we will do whatever we
must to protect those who serve their country abroad, and we will maintain the
best military the world has ever known.
(APPLAUSE)
We’ll invest in new capabilities, even as we
reduce waste and wartime spending. We will ensure equal treatment for all
servicemembers, and equal benefits for their families, gay and straight.
(APPLAUSE)
We will draw upon the courage and skills of our
sisters and daughters and moms, because women have proven under fire that they
are ready for combat. We will keep faith with our veterans, investing in
world-class care, including mental health care, for our wounded warriors...
(APPLAUSE)
... supporting our military families, giving
our veterans the benefits and education and job opportunities that they have
earned. And I want to thank my wife, Michelle, and Dr. Jill Biden for their
continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they have
served us.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you, hon. Thank you, Jill.
(APPLAUSE)
Defending our freedom, though, is not just the
job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given
rights are protected here at home. That includes one of the most fundamental
rights of a democracy, the right to vote.
(APPLAUSE)
Now...
(APPLAUSE)
When...
(APPLAUSE)
When any American -- no matter where they live
or what their party -- are denied that right because they can’t wait for five
or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals.
So...
(APPLAUSE)
So, tonight, I’m announcing a nonpartisan
commission to improve the voting experience in America. And it definitely needs
improvement. I’m asking two long-time experts in the field -- who, by the way,
recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for Governor Romney’s
campaign -- to lead it. We can fix this. And we will. The American people
demand it, and so does our democracy.
(APPLAUSE)
Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters
little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource, our
children.
It has been two months since Newtown. I know
this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence,
but this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans -- Americans
who believe in the Second Amendment -- have come together around commonsense
reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get
their hands on a gun. Senators...
(APPLAUSE)
Senators -- senators of both parties are
working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for
resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war
and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs,
they’re tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned.
Each of these proposals deserves a vote in
Congress.
(APPLAUSE)
Now...
(APPLAUSE)
If you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But
these proposals deserve a vote, because in the two months since Newtown, more
than a thousand birthdays, graduations, anniversaries have been stolen from our
lives by a bullet from a gun. More than a thousand.
One of those we lost was a young girl named
Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss.
She was a majorette.
OBAMA: She was so good to her friends, they all
thought they were her best friend.
Just three weeks ago, she was here, in
Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration.
And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just
a mile away from my house.
Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this
chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been
torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.
(APPLAUSE)
They deserve a vote.
(APPLAUSE)
They deserve a vote.
(APPLAUSE)
Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.
(APPLAUSE)
The families of Newtown deserve a vote.
(APPLAUSE)
The families of Aurora deserve a vote.
(APPLAUSE)
The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and
Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence,
they deserve a simple vote.
(APPLAUSE)
They deserve -- they deserve a simple vote.
Our actions will not prevent every senseless
act of violence in this country. In fact, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative
acts will perfectly solve all of the challenges I’ve outlined tonight. But we
were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference
we can -- to secure this nation, expand opportunity, uphold our ideals through
the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.
We were sent here to look out for our fellow
Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually
without fanfare, all across this country. We should follow their example.
We should follow the example of a New York City
nurse named Menchu Sanchez. When Hurricane Sandy plunged her hospital into
darkness, she wasn’t thinking about how her own home was faring. Her mind was
on the 20 precious newborns in her care and the rescue plan she devised that
kept them all safe.
We should follow the example of a North Miami
woman named Desiline Victor. When Desiline arrived at her polling place, she
was told the wait to vote might be six hours. And as time ticked by, her
concern was not with her tired body or aching feet, but whether folks like her
would get to have their say. And hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in
line in support of her, because Desiline is 102 years old.
And they erupted in cheers when she finally put
on a sticker that read “I Voted.”
(APPLAUSE)
You know...
(APPLAUSE)
There’s Desiline.
(APPLAUSE)
We should follow the example of a police
officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in
Wisconsin, Brian was the first to arrive, and he did not consider his own
safety. He fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers to
protect the safety of the fellow Americans worshiping inside, even as he lay
bleeding from 12 bullet wounds.
And when asked how he did that, Brian said,
“That’s just the way we’re made.” That’s just the way we’re made.
We may do different jobs, and wear different
uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans,
we all share the same proud title: We are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t
just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made.
It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country
only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future
generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that
well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as
citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in
our American story.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless these
United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
Read the transcript and watch the video at The
Washington Post
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