Remarks of President Barack Obama -- As Prepared for Delivery
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, fellow citizens:
Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this Chamber that “the
Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…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. After years of grueling
recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We
buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil
than we have in twenty. Our housing market is healing, our stock market
is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger
protections than ever before.
Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and can say with
renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger.
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 rocketed 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.
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, 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.
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. 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, energy, and
medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us
hundreds of thousands of jobs. 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.
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. 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 most powerful. 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,
cops, and 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. Already,
the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care
costs. The reforms I’m proposing go even further. We’ll reduce
taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the
wealthiest seniors. 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.
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.
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 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? How does that promote growth?
Now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that
encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. 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 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 create jobs right here in America. That’s what
tax reform can deliver. That’s what we can do together.
I realize that tax reform and entitlement reform won’t 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, and 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. The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep
conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the
next. Let’s agree, right here, right now, to keep the people’s
government open, pay our bills on time, and always uphold the full faith
and credit of the United States of America. The American people have
worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their
elected officials cause another.
Now, 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. A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs –
that must be the North Star that guides our efforts. 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
needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads
to a decent living?
A year and a half ago, I put forward an American Jobs Act that
independent economists said would create more than one million new jobs.
I thank the last Congress for passing some of that agenda, and I urge
this Congress to pass the rest. 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’s not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government
that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth.
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. After locating
plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most
advanced plant right here at home. And this year, Apple will start
making Macs in America again.
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 3D printing that has the
potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s
no reason this can’t happen in other towns. 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 fifteen of these hubs
and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is Made in
America.
If we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best
ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140
to our economy. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to
unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s; developing drugs to regenerate
damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries ten 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. And today,
no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy.
After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our
own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15
years. 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. Yes, 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, and floods – all are now
more frequent and 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.
The good news is, we can make meaningful progress on this issue while
driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to 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 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.
Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and
the jobs that came with it. 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 – so
let’s drive costs down even further. As long as countries like China
keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.
In the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and
greater energy independence. That’s why my Administration will keep
cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. 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
water.
Indeed, 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 non-partisan 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 twenty years. The states with the best ideas
to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient
buildings will receive federal support to help make it 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 and 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 I know that you want
these job-creating projects in your districts. I’ve seen you all at the
ribbon-cuttings.
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 that there is no better place to do business than the
United States of America. And let’s start right away.
Part of our rebuilding effort must also involve our housing sector.
Today, 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, and 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. What are we waiting for? Take a vote, and send me that
bill. 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, and housing
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 four
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.
Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool
available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in
high-quality early 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, and form more stable families of their own. 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 that they’re ready for a job. At
schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York
Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will
graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers
or engineering.
We need to give every American student opportunities like this. Four
years ago, we started Race to the Top – a competition that convinced
almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards,
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.
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 jobs right now and 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 have, the
more likely you are to have a job and work your way into the middle
class. But today, skyrocketing costs price way too many young people
out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt.
Through tax credits, grants, and better loans, we have made college more
affordable for millions of students and families over the last few
years. But taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the soaring cost of
higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and
it’s our job to make sure they do. 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
criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.
To grow our middle class, our citizens must 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 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, and faith communities all agree that the time
has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Real reform means strong 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, reduce bureaucracy, 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. As we speak, bipartisan
groups in both chambers are working diligently to draft a bill, and I
applaud their efforts. Now let’s get this done. Send me a
comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will
sign it right away.
But we can’t stop there. We know our economy is stronger when our
wives, mothers, and 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 Act that
Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. I urge the House to do
the same. 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’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, nineteen 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 $9.00 an hour. 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. 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’s 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
chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that is
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. Let’s put people back to work
rebuilding vacant homes in run-down 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. We’ll work with
local leaders to target resources at public safety, 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 doing 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.
Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger America. It is
this kind of prosperity – broad, shared, and built on a thriving middle
class – that has always been the source of our progress at home. It is
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 Qaeda. 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.
Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan
will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We are
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 counter-terrorism efforts that allow us
to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.
Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its
former self. Different al Qaeda 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 will 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.
As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight. That is why my
Administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy
framework to guide our counterterrorism operations. Throughout, we
have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. I recognize that in
our democracy, no one should just take my word that we’re doing things
the right way. So, in the months ahead, I will continue to engage with
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 Qaeda. 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 that they will
only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international
obligations. Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only
isolate them further, 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 will
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.
America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks.
We know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private
e-mail. 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, and 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. Now, Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to
give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter
attacks.
Even as we protect our people, we should remember that today’s world
presents not only dangers, but 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 am announcing that we will
launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership with the European Union – because trade that is free and
fair 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. 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 and empowering women; by giving our
young and brightest minds new opportunities to serve and helping
communities to feed, power, and educate themselves; by saving the
world’s children from preventable deaths; and by realizing the promise
of an AIDS-free generation.
Above all, 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 – 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 will 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. 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 will 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 will deliver when I travel to the Middle East next month.
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 in the world. We will invest in new capabilities,
even as we reduce waste and wartime spending. We will ensure equal
treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families
– gay and straight. We will draw upon the courage and skills of our
sisters and daughters, 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; and giving our veterans the
benefits, education, and job opportunities 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 serve us.
But defending our freedom is not 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 our most fundamental right as citizens: the right
to vote. When any Americans – no matter where they live or what their
party – are denied that right simply because they can’t wait for five,
six, seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals.
That’s why, tonight, I’m announcing a non-partisan commission to
improve the voting experience in America. And I’m asking two long-time
experts in the field, who’ve 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 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 2nd 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 they are tired of
being outgunned.
Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. 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, and anniversaries have been stolen from our
lives by a bullet from a gun.
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 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.
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.
Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this
country. Indeed, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will
perfectly solve all 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, and 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, her
thoughts were not with how her own home was faring – they were with the
twenty 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 she 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. 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.”
We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy.
When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and Brian was
the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back
until help arrived, and ordered his fellow officers to protect the
safety of the Americans worshiping inside – even as he lay bleeding from
twelve bullet wounds.
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 the United States of America.
