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. And that's why
my administration will keep cutting redtape and speeding up new oil and
gas permits. 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 new-found 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. 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--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. 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.
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.
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 6 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 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. Why are--why would we be against that? 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.
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.
And that has to start at the earliest possible age. Study after study
shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she
does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 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 a 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. That's something we should be able to do.
Every dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood education can
save more than 7 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.
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 4 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. 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.
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. And tomorrow my administration
will release a new college scorecard that parents and students can use
to compare schools based on a simple criterion: 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. 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 is the time to
do it. Now is the time to get it done. [Applause] Now is the time to
get it done.
Real reform means stronger border security, and we can build on the
progress my administration has 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.
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.
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. Let's get
it done. [Applause] Let's get it done.
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. Good job, Joe. And I ask this Congress to declare
that women should earn a living equal to their efforts, and finally
pass the "Paycheck Fairness Act" this year.
We know our economy is 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 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. We should be able to get that done.
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.
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. Now,
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.
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.
Already, we have brought home 33,000 of our brave service men 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.
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. 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 and
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, 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. 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, 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.
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.
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.
And 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.
But 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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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, 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. Thank you, honey.
Thank you, Jill.
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. Now, when any American, no
matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right
because they can't afford to wait for 5 or 6 or 7 hours just to cast
their ballot, we are betraying our ideals.
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.
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 2 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 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. Now, if you want
to vote no, that's your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote.
Because in the 2 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.
She was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best
friend. Just 3 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. They deserve a vote. [Applause] They
deserve a vote. Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown
deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of
Oak Creek and Tucson and Blacksburg, and the countless other
communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote.
They deserve a simple vote.