Senator McCain appeared on USA with John King - CNN News
Senator McCain appeared on USA with John King to discuss the court ruling on SB 1070 and to discuss the next steps in Immigration Reform and Border Security. From: JohnMcCaindotcom Views: 4 0 ratings Time: 08:01 More in News & Politics

President Obama praises the successes of the auto industry restructuring as good news for our economy, and calls on Republican leaders in the Senate to “stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics” by blocking a vote to help them  create jobs. 

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WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Obama praised the successes of the auto industry restructuring.  When his administration decided to invest in the American car companies, some said such a move was bound to fail.  But since GM and Chrysler have emerged from bankruptcy, the auto industry has added 55,000 jobs – the strongest growth in 10 years – and for the first time since 2004, all three companies are operating at a profit.  The President also called on Republican leaders in the Senate to stop blocking a vote on a bill helping small businesses.  Even though this bill will help the recovery, and has been endorsed by groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, the Republican Senate leadership continues to hold it hostage to politics by denying an up-or-down vote on the bill.

The audio and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 am ET, Saturday, July 31, 2010.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Detroit, Michigan

Hello everyone.  I’m speaking to you from the GM auto plant here in Detroit, Michigan, where a hopeful story is unfolding in a place that’s been one of the hardest hit in America.

In the twelve months before I took office, American auto companies lost hundreds of thousands of jobs.  Sales plunged 40 percent.  Liquidation was a very real possibility.  Years of papering over tough problems and failing to adapt to changing times – combined with a vicious economic crisis – brought an industry that’s been the symbol of our manufacturing might for a century to the brink of collapse. 

We didn’t have many good options.  On one hand, we could have continued the practice of handing out billions of taxpayer dollars to the auto industry with no real strings attached.  On the other hand, we could have walked away and allowed two major auto companies to go out of business – which could have wiped out one million American jobs. 

I refused to let that happen.  So we came up with a third way.  We said to the auto companies – if you’re willing to make the hard decisions necessary to adapt and compete in the 21st century, we’ll make a one-time investment in your future. 

Of course, if some folks had their way, none of this would be happening at all.  This plant might not exist.  There were leaders of the “just say no” crowd in Washington who argued that standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure.  One called it “the worst investment you could possibly make.”  They said we should just walk away and let these jobs go. 

Today, the men and women in this plant are proving these cynics wrong.  Since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, our auto industry has added 55,000 jobs – the strongest period of job growth in more than ten years.  For the first time since 2004, all three American automakers are operating at a profit.  Sales have begun to rebound.  And plants like this that wouldn’t have existed if all of us didn’t act are now operating maximum capacity. 

What’s more, thanks to our investments, a lot of these auto companies are reinventing themselves to meet the demands of a new age.  At this plant, they’re hard at work building the high-quality, fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow – cars like the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt that can run 40 miles before taking a sip of gasoline.  Throughout Michigan, an advanced battery industry is taking root that will power clean electric cars – an industry that produced only 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries last year, but will now be able to produce as much as 40 percent in a little over five years.  That’s real progress. 

There’s no doubt that we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do before folks here and across the country can feel whole again.  But what’s important is that we’re finally beginning to see some of the tough decisions we made pay off.  And if we had listened to the cynics and the naysayers – if we had simply done what the politics of the moment required – none of this progress would have happened. 

Still, even as these icons of American industry are being reborn, we also need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America’s small businessmen and women, as well -- particularly since they’re the ones who create most of the new jobs in this country. 

As we work to rebuild our economy, I can’t imagine anything more common-sense than giving additional tax breaks and badly-needed lending assistance to America’s small business owners so they can grow and hire.  That’s what we’re trying to do with the Small Business Jobs Act – a bill that has been praised as being good for small businesses by groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business.  It’s a bill that includes provision after provision authored by both Democrats and Republicans.  But yesterday, the Republican leaders in the Senate once again used parliamentary procedures to block it. Understand, a majority of Senators support the plan. It’s just that the Republican leaders in the Senate won’t even allow it to come up for a vote.

That isn’t right. And I’m calling on the Republican leaders in the Senate to stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics, and allow an up-or-down vote on this small business jobs bill.

At a time when America is just starting to move forward again, we can’t afford the do-nothing policies and partisan maneuvering that will only take us backward.  I won’t stand here and pretend everything’s wonderful.  I know that times are tough.  But what I also know is that we’ve made it through tough times before.  And we’ll make it through again.  The men and women hard at work in this plant make me absolutely confident of that. 

So to all the naysayers out there, I say this:  Don’t ever bet against the American people.  Because we don’t take the easy way out.  That’s not how we deal with challenge.  That’s not how we build this country into the greatest economic power the world has ever known.  We did it by summoning the courage to persevere, and adapt, and push this country forward, inch by inch.  That’s the spirit I see in this plant today, and as long as I have the privilege of being your President, I will keep fighting alongside you until we reach a better day. 

Thanks.

President Obama praises the successes of the auto industry restructuring as good news for our economy, and calls on Republican leaders in the Senate to "stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics" by blocking a vote to help them create jobs.

Weekly Address: Good News on Autos, Obstruction on Small Business
President Obama praises the successes of the auto industry restructuring as good news for our economy, and calls on Republican leaders in the Senate to "stop holding America's small businesses hostage to politics" by blocking a vote to help them create jobs. From: whitehouse Views: 71 5 ratings Time: 05:31 More in News & Politics

Fighting for American Auto Workers
President Obama visits the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit, MI to talk to workers about how investments in the auto industry are helping create and save American jobs. July 30, 2010. From: whitehouse Views: 0 0 ratings Time: 23:34 More in News & Politics

An Auto Industry on the Move
President Obama talks about the steps his Administration has taken to revive the American auto industry and invest in new technologies during a visit to the General Motors Hamtramck Auto Plant in Hamtramck, MI. From: whitehouse Views: 0 0 ratings Time: 10:57 More in News & Politics

On Friday, July 30, 2010, the President signed into law:

H.R. 5849, which extends the authorizations of certain Small Business Administration programs until September 30, 2010.

S. 3372, which extends from July 31, 2010 to December 18, 2013, a moratorium on the requirement for Clean Water Act permitting of discharges from certain vessels.

Tomorrow marks one year since Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal were detained by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sarah, Shane and Josh committed absolutely no crime. When they were arrested and detained, they were hiking in the region along the border of Iran and Iraq. Yet for a full year, they have been held in prison, causing extraordinary grief and uncertainty for them, for their families, and for their loved ones.

I want to be perfectly clear: Sarah, Shane and Josh have never worked for the United States government. They are simply open-minded and adventurous young people who represent the best of America, and of the human spirit. They are teachers, artists, and advocates for social and environmental justice. They have never had any quarrel with the government of Iran, and have great respect for the Iranian people.
 
I call on the Iranian government to immediately release Sarah, Shane and Josh. Their unjust detention has nothing to do with the issues that continue to divide the United States and the international community from the Iranian government. This is a humanitarian imperative, as these three young people are innocent of any crime. As a signatory to multiple conventions on human rights, the government of Iran should act in line with the principles of justice, and allow Sarah, Shane and Josh to be reunited with their families. This call has been echoed by people in many countries, and is shared by all who respect human freedom and decency.

I want to particularly acknowledge the suffering and advocacy of Sarah, Shane and Josh’s families. Earlier this week, I spoke with the mothers of these three young people, who have worked tirelessly for the release of their children. The Iranian government’s gesture of allowing these mothers to visit their children was welcome, but I cannot imagine how painful it was for these three courageous women to return home without their children. I told these three mothers that Sarah, Shane and Josh are in my thoughts and prayers, and that the U.S. government would continue to do all that it could to secure their release.

I also spoke earlier this week with the wife of Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran over three years ago. We continue to have no information about his welfare, and reiterate our call for the government of Iran to provide any information that it has about his whereabouts. It is time to facilitate Robert Levinson’s return to the family and friends who have suffered so greatly in his absence. We continue to have him in our thoughts and prayers, and to do all that we can to reunite him with his family.

Each of these cases reminds us of the dignity that is shared by all human beings, and the necessity of justice. All Americans stand together in support of our citizens who are suffering through unjust detention abroad, and we will not rest until they are home.

Those who may want to learn more about these cases can visit: www.freethehikers.org and www.helpboblevinson.com.

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Carly Kinney was one of many young people who made it to the ballot box for the first time in November of 2008. Now, two years later, Carly recognizes the significance of her first vote and understands the importance in continuing to voice her opinions through her votes. She has stayed close to the Obama for America movement by volunteering with OFA NH and serving as our Summer Organizer for the Souhegan Valley.

 

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up and what got you involved in politics?

I grew up in Amherst, New Hampshire. Growing up in the state with the first primary in the nation, I was surrounded by politics, and I was always a politically-aware child. I loved seeing the presidential candidates marching in my town’s Fourth of July parade and coming to events in my area. Before the New Hampshire Primary in 2008, I found myself going to as many candidate events as I could both Republican and Democrat, because I was so amazed that they would have any interest in coming to my small state.

When was your first election?

2008 was the first election I voted in, although I distinctly remember watching the election results with my parents in 2000 and 2004.            

Can you describe your experience as a young voter on Election Day in 2008?

Being a young voter in 2008 felt empowering. I had become a volunteer for Obama for America by Election Day, so I spent a few hours poll watching in addition to my voting. I remember turning on the news when I got home to hear them talking about young voters. Here were all of these big political analysts talking about how I was making a huge difference in the election! It was incredible, but I already knew that the youth vote was going to have more impact than people expected – we were so energized and passionate! Nothing was going to keep us from the polls.

What motivates you to vote?

My ideas about how this country should be run matter and I am not going to waste my opportunity to have my expression of those ideas count. Like everyone else, I want my voice to be heard and voting is the way I can ensure that it is.

Why is it important for you to vote in 2010? Why do you think it is important for your generation to vote in 2010?

If my generation could make such a huge impact in 2008, we could do it in 2010. We can’t sit back and let older generations speak for us – we have to speak for ourselves.

In 2008, 15 million people voted for the first time, they voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. What role do you think first time 2008 voters like yourself play in November’s upcoming midterm election?

First time 2008 voters can be crucial in 2010. If we get out and vote, we can get Democrats elected and shock all the pundits who said we wouldn’t vote!

Which piece of the Obama Administration has been the most important for you? How do you think it will impact your community?

Health care reform was very important to me. As a college student, I’m not sure what kind of job I’ll be able to find when I get out of school, and I don’t want to have to worry about losing my health coverage. With this new reform, I’m glad that I will be able to stay on my parent’s health insurance until I’m 26. I think this provision makes it so much easier for students to relax a little as their graduation date approaches. With the cost of student loans and the uncertainty of the job market, knowing that your health is covered is going to make it so much easier for people my age to transition into the working world.

What do you think the best way to reengage young people is?

We need to talk to them about the actual impact they can have. A lot of young people want to see things change, but they don’t realize how powerful we can be as a group. We need to get them to see that this is the best way to demonstrate to policy makers that our voices are important.

 

If you would like to join Carly in her efforts to share the importance of voting with young people and her fellow first-time 2008 voters, we would love to get you involved! Nest week, in honor of the President's 49th birthday, volunteers from across New Hampshire will gather to phone bank in order to get even more people out and active in this election cycle. Please take a moment to find the event nearest you and give President Obama the best "Happy Birthday!" you can - http://j.mp/FindOFANHBirthdayEvent

In September 2009, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would routinely release visitor records. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were created in April 2010. Today’s release also includes several visitor records created prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public during June 2010 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy. This release brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to well over half a million records. You can view them all in our Disclosures section.

We note that January 2010 records were inadvertently posted twice. That error has been corrected.

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

There’s no question that last year’s SAVE Award was a great success, with tens of thousands of ideas to help government save money and be more efficient submitted by Federal employees.  It was a first-of-its-kind exercise, called for by the President, to tap into the knowledge of the people who know government first hand.  As OMB Director Peter Orszag – who was integral to the SAVE Award getting off the ground – has explained, many of those ideas have made their way into reality through the Federal budget process.

This morning the opening stage of the second SAVE Award came to a close, and its success represented yet another big step forward in harvesting the wisdom and institutional knowledge of those working in government to save taxpayer dollars.   Whereas in 2009, employees simply submitted their ideas into a web form – a “black box” of sorts – this year employees were able to not only submit ideas, but vote and comment on ideas from others, allowing collaboration and crowdsourcing to help bring the best ideas to the top, to continue developing ideas, and to demonstrate just how widespread a problem or opportunity really is.  All told, there were more than 18,000 ideas posted, 164,000 votes cast, and more than 13,000 comments registered from just about every agency imaginable.  And they’re all public, allowing everybody from taxpayers to agency heads to consider the ideas for themselves.

Over the coming weeks, OMB staff will be reviewing the submissions and picking some of the best and sharpest as finalists for a last round of voting by the public in September.  The President has always said that change has to come from the bottom up, and there are few better examples than the SAVE Award.

General Motors Auto Plant
Hamtramck, Michigan

1:46 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody!  (Applause.)   Hello, Detroit!  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you.

Listen, before I just make a few short remarks, I just want to acknowledge some people who are here who have been critical in helping make sure that we are putting the U.S. auto industry back on track.  First of all, my Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood, from Peoria, Illinois, is here.  (Applause.)  The mayor of Hamtramck, Karen Majewski, is here.  Give her a big round of applause.  (Applause.) 

Detroit Mayor and Hall of Famer Dave Bing is in the house.  (Applause.)  Two senators who have been fighting for you each and every day, Carl Levin*** and Debbie Stabenow, are here.  (Applause.)  Wonderful Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is here.  (Applause.)  UAW President Bob King is in the house.  (Applause.)  General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre is here.  (Applause.)   And I want to thank Teri Quigley and Frank Moultrie for the great tour that they gave me.  (Applause.)

Now, I have to tell you some of you saw me drive a Volt about 12 inches.  They don't let me drive much these days.  But the Cadillac that I drive in is made right here.  (Applause.)  I got to admit the Secret Service soups it up a little bit.  But it’s a nice ride.  It’s very smooth.

You know, it is great to be back here and to see this outstanding plant and to see all of you.  And I want to take you down Memory Lane just a little bit to a year ago.  At that point, we were coming out of the worst recession that we had seen since the Great Depression.  The economy was shrinking.  We had lost 8 million jobs.  The day I was sworn in, we lost -- that month, we lost 750,000 jobs -- that month that I was sworn in.  That's true.

The auto industry had lost hundreds of thousands of jobs.  Sales had gone down by 40 percent.  And two of the Big Three, GM and Chrysler, were on the brink of a liquidation bankruptcy, which means they would have been wiped out.  And if GM and Chrysler were wiped out, then suppliers would be wiped out and dealerships would have been wiped out, and communities would have been even more devastated.

It’s estimated that we would have lost another million jobs if we had not stepped in.  (Applause.)  Now, we basically had three options when I was confronting what was happening in the U.S. auto industry.  Option number one was to keep on doing what the previous administration had been doing, which is basically give about a billion dollars a month to the auto industry, but not really ask for any kind of change that would get it on the right track.

Option two was to do nothing and, as I said, we would have lost another million jobs.  But more importantly, we would have lost what has been the heart and soul of American manufacturing, what has built a middle class not just here in Detroit, but all throughout the Midwest, what has made us proud and has been a symbol of our economic power.  (Applause.)

So I didn’t like either of those two options, and I went for a third option.  The third option was we are going to give you the help you need, but we are also going to insist that management, workers, creditors, suppliers, dealers, shareholders, everybody get together and come up with a plan so that we can start building for the future.  So we’re not looking backwards, but we’re moving forward.  (Applause.)

Now, that was a tough decision and let’s face it, a lot of people were skeptical.  I don’t know if you all remember, but I remember how last year there were a whole bunch of folks who said, well, that makes no sense.  There’s the “just say no” crowd in Washington -- they’re still saying no -- who basically said, well, this is a terrible investment.  We should just let the market take its course, let GM, let Chrysler go bankrupt.  So there was a lot of skepticism out there. 

But we made the decision to step in.  And the reason I did that was because I had confidence in you.  I had faith in you.  (Applause.)  Because I believe that the American worker is the best worker on Earth.  We’ve got the best engineers.  We’ve got the best technologies.  And if we could just mobilize our strengths and our talents and feel confident about the future, nothing can stop us. 

And now here we are a year later.  And a year later, GM and Chrysler, along with Ford, are all posting a profit.  (Applause.)  The U.S. auto industry has hired 55,000 workers, the most job growth in a decade.  (Applause.)  And not only that, but you’re producing the cars of the future right here at this plant, producing cars that are going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  This car right here doesn’t need a sip of gasoline for 40 miles and then keeps on going after that.  (Applause.) 

And along with creating these new products, we’ve also started to say, well, why don’t we make the advanced batteries that go into the Volt right here in the United States of America?  (Applause.)  So we were making 2 percent of the advanced batteries right here in the United States.  By 2015, in five years, we will have 40 percent of the market in advanced batteries right here in the United States of America being made by American workers.  (Applause.)

Now, let’s be clear, we’re not out of the woods yet.  The economy is now growing -- it was shrinking at 6 percent.  Now, it’s growing at 2.4 percent.  We’ve added private sector jobs for six months in a row, but there’s still too many folks unemployed.  There are a lot of folks in the auto industry who haven’t been hired back.  We’re still going to have to do a lot of work to put folks back to work.

But we are moving in the right direction.  The trend lines are good.  And as people get more confident, people are going to start saying, it’s finally time for me to buy a new car.  And they're not just going to look at some foreign-made car, they're going to say, you know what, GM is making the car of the future.  And I’m going to take a look at what GM is making.  (Applause.)

So we’ve got a lot of work to do.  We’ve got some challenges out here.  We’re going to have to keep on being lean and mean.  We’re going to have to keep on marketing our products more effectively.  We’re going to have to make sure the government, business -- everybody is working in the same direction.  We’ve got to export more.  We can’t just buy from other countries, we got to sell to other countries.  (Applause.)

And that means we’ve got to make sure that our trade deals are fair.  (Applause.)  But let me tell you when I look out at this plant, and I look out at all of you, it gives me hope.  It confirms my conviction: don't bet against the American worker!  (Applause.)  Don't bet against the American people!

We are back on our feet.  We are on the move.  GM is on the move.  The U.S. auto industry is on the move.  And America is on the move, and I’m not going to rest until every single American worker who wants to get back to work is going to be back to work.  You're helping lead the way and I’m grateful to you!  (Applause.)

God bless you!  And God bless the United States of America.  Thank you, everybody.  (Applause.)

END
1:59 P.M. EDT

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at General Motors Auto Plant in Hamtramck, Michigan. The Hamtramck GM plant is one of nine that GM recently kept open during a scheduled summer shutdown in production.

Today the President was in Detroit visiting workers at a Chrysler plant and a GM plant that have not only survived, but found success after critics looking to score political points claimed there was no hope for them. For those critics the President offered a lesson: "Don't bet against the American worker."

During the two years since the economy took its hard downward turn, millions of Americans have had to fight with everything they had to stay afloat, to keep food on the table, to keep their businesses in business – and nowhere has that been more true than in Detroit.

The President has also been fighting alongside America’s workers – from the Recovery Act that’s saved or created about 3 million jobs, to the fight today over small business lending – and of course for the workers in Detroit and across America who contribute to the decades-old craft of American cars. When political opponents said that helping the American auto industry survive was a lost cause, and tried to turn public frustration against the President, he stepped in and made the hard choices anyway. There couldn’t necessarily be a life raft for everybody, but he was not going to let a million American jobs fall by the wayside simply because it opened him up for cheap political attacks. 

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BarackObama: Go behind the scenes in the fight for campaign finance reform and at yesterday's appearance on The View. http://j.mp/atXbqL

On Tuesday, Vice President Biden continued his Recovery Summer tour at Grand Canyon National Park.  Standing in front of the beautiful overlook at Hopi Point on the south rim of the canyon, we spoke with Roger Geiger, a construction worker who is helping to rehabilitate housing for the Havasupai tribe. Roger talked with us about how this particular Recovery Act project was helping him put food on the table and save for his children’s education.

Vice President Joe Biden talks about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and its impact on National Parks on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, July 27, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

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The White House today announced that Camille Johnston, Director of Communications for the First Lady, will be leaving the White House for a position in the private sector.

Statement from Mrs. Obama:

“Camille has become a trusted advisor to me and to the entire East Wing,” said First Lady Michelle Obama.  “From our first day in the White House when we opened the doors and greeted visitors, she has led a communications team that has developed creative and effective strategies for the Let’s Move! campaign, our work on behalf of military families, arts and cultural events in the White House and our international agenda.  Her dedication, calming presence and expertise have been invaluable.  She will be missed, but we wish her all the best.” 

Statement from Camille Johnston:

“Being invited by Mrs. Obama to be a part of her East Wing team was a privilege for which I am incredibly grateful.  It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve the First Lady and the President and to be a part of this historic Administration.”

Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant
Detroit, Michigan

12:16 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Detroit!  (Applause.)

Well, it is good to be here.  Everybody, if you have a seat, have a seat.  (Laughter.)  It is good -- it’s good to be back.

AUDIENCE:  Yeah!

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s good to be back.  First off, give it up -- give it up to Leah for that wonderful introduction.  (Applause.)

We’ve got some special guests here that I want to acknowledge.  First of all, your Secretary of Transportation, who has helped to make sure that we are guiding this process of rebuilding the American auto industry and is doing an outstanding job, from Peoria, Illinois, Secretary Ray Lahood.  Give him a big round of applause.  (Applause.)

Because of a funeral, she couldn’t be here, but I want everybody to give a huge round of applause to one of the best governors in very tough times that exists anywhere in the country, Jennifer Granholm.  She’s doing a great job.  (Applause.)

Your outstanding new mayor and close to my heart, NBA Hall of Famer, Dave Bing is in the house. (Applause.)

Two of the hardest working senators anywhere.  And they are always thinking about Michigan and Michigan manufacturing, making stuff right here in the United States of America, Carl Levine and Debbie Stabenow.  (Applause.)

Outstanding member of Congress, Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.  (Applause.)  UAW President Bob King is in the house.  (Applause.)  And Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.  (Applause.)  Sergio is modest.  He doesn’t stand up.  (Laughter.)  But he’s doing a great job.

So I just had a tour of this outstanding plant with Sergio and Pat Walsh, your plant manager; General Holiefield -- now, that's a name right there -- (Laughter.)  General Holiefield, vice president of the UAW.  (Applause.)  Cynthia Holland, your local UAW president.  (Applause.)

And it was great to see the work that you’re doing and the cars that you’re building.  Especially when you consider the fact that just over a year ago, the future here seemed very much in doubt. 

Now, before I make my remarks, I’ve got to disclose, I’m a little biased here because the first new car that I ever bought was a Grand Cherokee.  (Applause.)  First new car.

Up until that point I had had some old, beat up -- (laughter) -- used cars -- they were not state of the art.  And I still remember walking into that showroom and driving out with that new car.  It had that new car smell, and everything worked.  (Laughter.)

I wasn’t used to that.  Had all these -- everything was electronic, and I had -- all my -- I’d had to roll up my windows up until that point.  So I’ve got some good memories of that car.  But I’ve got to tell you when I sat in this car, this is a better car.  This is a state-of-the-art car.  This is a world-class car right here.  (Applause.)

Now, I want everybody to think about where we were.  We were in the midst when I took office of a deep and painful recession that cost our economy about 8 million jobs -- 8 million jobs -- and took a terrible toll on communities like this one.

Our economy was shrinking about 6 percent per quarter.  Now, this morning we learned that our economy grew by 2.4 percent in the second quarter of the year, so that means it’s now been growing again for one full year.  (Applause.) 

Our economy is growing again instead of shrinking.  That's a welcome sign compared to where we were.  But we’ve got to keep on increasing that rate of growth and keep adding jobs so we can keep moving forward.  And that's especially important for places like this.

In the 12 months before I took office, the American auto industry lost hundreds of thousands of jobs.  Sales plunged 40 percent.  Think about that.  The industry looked like it was going over a cliff.  As the financial crisis and the vicious recession collided with an industry that for too long had avoided hard choices and hadn’t fully adapted to changing times, we finally reached the point where two of the Big Three -- Chrysler and GM -- were on the brink of liquidation.

And that left us with very few choices.  One choice, one option was to keep the practice of giving billions of dollars of taxpayer money to the auto industry but not really forcing any accountability or change -– so you just keep on kicking the tough problems down the road year after year and hopefully seeing if you can get more and more money out of Washington.

A second option was to do nothing and risk allowing two of the Big Three to disintegrate.  And that could have meant the end of an industry that, like no other industry, represents so much of what makes up the American spirit.

This industry has been the source of deep pride for generations of American workers whose imaginations led to some of the finest cars the world has ever known -- and whose sweat built a middle class that has held the dreams of millions of our people.

I just met one of your co-workers on a line.  He is third generation working at Chrysler.  His grandfather worked at Chrysler.  His father worked at Chrysler.  And now he is on the line at Chrysler.  And that could have all vanished.

Now, the worse thing about it is that if we had done nothing, not only were your jobs gone, but supplier jobs were gone and dealership jobs were gone, and the communities that depend on them would have been wiped out.  And, by the way, when you talk to the CEO of Ford, he’ll tell you that wouldn’t have been good for Ford either, because a lot of those suppliers that they depend on might have gone out of business.

Independent estimates suggest that more than 1 million jobs could have been lost if Chrysler and GM had liquidated.  And in the middle of a deep recession, that would have been a brutal, irreversible shock not just to Detroit, not just to the Midwest, but to our entire economy.  So I refused to let that happen.
 
And we came up with a third way.  What we said was, if you’re willing to take the tough and painful steps necessary to make yourselves more competitive; if you’re willing to pull together workers, management, suppliers, dealers, everybody to remake yourself for changing times then we’ll stand by you and we’ll invest in your future.  Our strategy was to get this company and this industry back on its feet, taking a hands-off approach, saying you guys know the business, we don’t.  We’re going to give you a chance, but we do know you’ve got to change.

Now, not surprisingly, a lot of folks were skeptical.  You remember last year.  A lot of folks were saying, well, this is stupid, we shouldn’t be helping them.  And I understood that.  Look, this was a hard decision.  I didn’t want government to get into the auto business.  I’ve got enough to do.  (Laughter.)  And the politics of it weren’t good.  Your delegation was supportive.  But Debbie and Carl, and Carolyn and others, they’ll tell you there are a lot of folks in Washington who said it couldn’t be done.

But I believed that if each of us were willing to work and sacrifice in the short term -- workers, management, creditors, shareholders, retirees, communities -- it could mark a new beginning for a great American industry.  And if we could summon that sense of teamwork and common purpose, we could once again see the best cars in the world designed, engineered, forged, and built right here in Detroit, right here in the Midwest, right here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)

So I placed that faith in you and all of America’s autoworkers, and you’ve vindicated that belief.  The fact that we’re standing in this magnificent factory today is a testament to the decisions we made and the sacrifices that you and countless stakeholders across this industry and this country were willing to make.  So today, this industry is growing stronger.  It’s creating new jobs.  It’s manufacturing the fuel-efficient cars and trucks that will carry us toward an energy independent future.  You are proving the naysayers wrong, all of you.  (Applause.) 

They thought it would be impossible for your company to make the kind of changes necessary to restore fiscal discipline and move towards viability.  Today, for the first time since 2004, all three U.S. automakers are operating at a profit, the first time in six years.  (Applause.)

Last year, sales plummeted and manufacturers and suppliers across the country were forced to idle plants and furlough workers.  Today, Chrysler is responding to more demand than anticipated by keeping this plant and others running through the usual summer shutdown.  The same goes for GM’s plants.  Sales have rebounded.  Across the supply chain, plants that wouldn’t exist without the sacrifices made across this industry are running at nearly full capacity. 

Last year, many thought this industry would keep losing jobs, as it had for the better part of the past decade.  Today, U.S. automakers have added 55,000 jobs since last June, the strongest job growth in more than 10 years in the auto industry.  This plant just hired a new shift of 1,100 workers last week.  (Applause.)

I met one of your co-workers on the line.  He said, “Thank you, Mr. President, I needed to get out of the house.”  (Laughter.)

I said, “I know your wife really felt that way.”  (Laughter.)  “I’m sure you were driving her crazy.”

The Dundee Chrysler plant will begin production of an American-made, advanced technology, fuel-efficient engine this December.  (Applause.)  The Sterling Heights Chrysler plant that was scheduled to close after 2012 will stay open and add a second shift of 900 workers next year.  (Applause.)  And when a plant thrives, that doesn’t just affect the new workers, that affects the entire community.

Now, it also helped that we took steps to stimulate demand, steps like Cash for Clunkers, which said that if you trade in your old car in for a new, more fuel-efficient model you’d get a rebate.  That program was good for automakers.  It was good for consumers.  But you know what, it was also good for the environment.  It was more successful than we ever imagined and it saved at least 100,000 jobs, giving dealerships sales numbers they hadn’t had in years and communities an economic boost they wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

So there’s no doubt that the auto industry is growing stronger.  But, look, the hard truth is this industry lost a lot of jobs in recent years.  Some of those jobs aren’t coming back partly because automakers have become so much more efficient than they used to be.  This is a lean, mean operation.  And so there are people who have still lost their jobs, haven’t been hired back and it wasn’t their fault.  Mistakes were made in managing the company that weren’t theirs.

So that’s why we still also got to make targeted investments to encourage new private sector manufacturing growth.  We got to encourage clean energy.  That’s why we’re taking steps to help communities revitalize and redevelop old, shuttered auto facilities, preparing them for new industries and new jobs and new opportunities.

I’ll give you an example, those investments that we’re making are helping to create an entire new advanced battery industry take root right here in Michigan.  That industry was producing only 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries last year, but by 2015, we expect to produce 40 percent of the advanced batteries that go into our cars.  (Applause.)  And we’re going to do it right here in Michigan -- all across the Midwest.

Investments like those mean jobs for American workers to do what they’ve always done: build great products and sell them around the world.

So the bottom line is this -- we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re beginning to see some of these tough decisions pay off.  We are moving forward.

I want you to remember, though, if some folks had their way, none of this would have been happening.  I just want to point that out.  Right?  I mean this -- this plant -- this plant and your jobs might not exist.  There were leaders of the “just say no” crowd in Washington -- they were saying -- oh, standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure.  One of them called it “the worst investment you could possibly make.”

AUDIENCE:  Boo!

THE PRESIDENT:  They said -- they said we should just walk way and let those jobs go. 

AUDIENCE:  Boo!

THE PRESIDENT:  I wish they were standing here today.  (Applause.)  I wish they could see what I’m seeing in this plant and talk to the workers who are here taking pride in building a world-class vehicle.  I don’t think they’d be willing to look you in the eye and say that you were a bad investment.  They might just come around if they were standing here and admit that by standing by a great American industry and the good people who work for it, that we did the right thing.  It’s hard for them to say that.  You know, they like admitting when I do the right thing.  (Laughter.)  But they might have had to admit it.  And I want all of you to know, I will bet on the American worker any day of the week!  (Applause.)

You know, when World War II hit Pearl Harbor, we didn’t throw up our arms and said “boy, this is tough.  I don't know what we’re going to do.”  We rolled up our sleeves.  We got to work.  And it was workers just like you, right here in Detroit, who built an arsenal of democracy that propelled America to victory.  It was workers like you that built this country into the greatest economic power the world has ever known; it workers like you that manufactured a miracle that was uniquely American.

We faced down impossible odds.  We can rise to meet any challenge.  As I was thinking about what to say today, an extraordinary story was brought to my attention.

I don't know if they're here, but I think some of you just know 14 of your fellow employees at the plant won the lottery.  (Applause.)  Where are they?  That's one -- a couple of them right there?  (Applause.)  You know, lunch is on them, by the way.  (Laughter.) 

Now, the first assumption people might make is, you know after you win the lottery, you just kick back and you retire.  Nobody’d fault folks for that.  This is tough work.  But most of them, they just want to keep on working.  And I -- (Applause.)  Is William Shanteau here?  He’s not?  Well, he was one of the guys who bought one of the -- he bought the winning ticket, right?  Turns out he used some of the winnings to buy his wife one of the Jeep Grand Cherokees that you build right here.  (Applause.)  He called it a sweet ride.  (Laughter.)  And he’s going to pay for new American flags for his hometown because he loves his country.  (Applause.)

And he’s going to keep coming to work because he loves this plant, and he loves these workers, so don't bet against the American worker.  Don't bet against the American people.  We got more work to do.  It’s going to take some time to get back to where we need to be, but I have confidence in the American worker.  I have confidence in you.  I have confidence in this economy.  We are coming back!  (Applause.)

Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
12:38 P.M. EDT

BarackObama: Speaking at a Hamtramck GM plant that recently stayed open during a scheduled production shutdown. Listen live: http://wh.gov/live.

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Detroit, Michigan

10:49 A.M. EDT

MR. GIBBS:  -- a number of the decisions that the President will highlight today at both stops in Michigan. 

First, well, as you guys know and as we’ve talked about over the past couple of days, we’re going to visit a Chrysler plant that has -- that is adding a new shift, 1,100 workers, and next go to a GM facility that is producing the new Chevy Volt.

Just to sort of recap a little bit from yesterday, this is the first time the Big Three have reported -- all three have reported an operating profit in the same quarter -- happened this year, so for the first time since 2004.

The auto industry the year before the President came into office lost more than 300,000 jobs.  Since GM reemerged from bankruptcy, the auto industry has added 55,000 jobs.  So -- and that's the first time that the auto industry has been adding jobs in -- since 1999, so more than a decade.  So the President is going to go today to highlight this story, to talk about the decisions that he made, talk about the tough sacrifices that workers and management had to make and highlight the beginnings of what we hope will be a long-term, good news story.

Q    Robert, what’s the administration’s reaction to the Commerce report, kind of disappointing about the recovery?  And do we need more stimulus?

MR. GIBBS:  Well, look, I think that the statistics today confirm what a lot of people in Michigan that we’re going to talk to today and a lot of people around the country knew, and that is the new statistics and the revisions for 2007, 2008 and 2009 demonstrate that this is the longest and deepest recession on record in our history. 

We lost more than 8 million jobs.  And we know times have been tough.  Look, we have seen over the course of this year so far steady job -- I’m sorry steady economic growth at about 3 percent, but we all know we have to do more, and we have to do better.

I’d say the first thing that needs to happen to address the statistics today is for the Republicans in the U.S. Senate to stop playing politics with what ought to be a pretty easy thing, and that is cutting capital gains taxes for small business, allowing small businesses to deduct more from their taxes when they invest in new equipment, and to provide community banks with the capital that small businesses need to get quickly.

That's the best response -- short-term response we could have to these numbers is for the Republican Party that preaches it virtually -- virtually every time somebody puts a tape recorder in their face about how much they want to help small business, now it’s time to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Q    Will the administration change any of its policies based on the second quarter report?

MR. GIBBS:  Look, obviously, we’ll look through the statistics.  I think they largely demonstrate what we already knew that we have -- it took us eight years to get into this economic mess, and it’s going to take us more than a year and a half to get out of it. 

And that's what Brian and the economic team will continue to focus on. 

Q    Are you worried, though, that the economy is losing steam?  The recovery that seemed to be fairly solid early in the year is losing steam and faltering?

MR. GIBBS:  Karen, there is no doubt that we have hit headwinds.  I think we’ve certainly talked about this -- I know you’ve heard the President talk about it -- that what happened in Europe, what happened in Greece in the late spring was a big part of that headwind. 

The United States made some tough decisions to stabilize our financial system and to inject some recovery into their economy.  And Europe didn't do, quite frankly, as much.  And that has no doubt stunted our growth and stunted world growth.

Q    Is there consideration of another stimulus now?  Or not at this point?

MR. GIBBS:  Look, I think if you look at the politics of what’s going on on Capitol Hill right now, I think we got everything we could.  But I will say again, Margaret, that cutting capital gains taxes on small business, I doubt many of us thought we’d live long enough to watch Republicans stop cutting capital gains taxes on small business.

I mean this shouldn’t be a partisan issue, and if it was a partisan issue yesterday, I hope that that caucus will take a look at the statistics that we’ve seen today, reacquaint themselves with the 8 million people that have lost jobs -- understand this, they like to say that -- and it’s true that small -- small business is the job creation engine of our economy -- and hopefully do some thinking over the weekend to put aside some of their partisan and ideological bents to help the American people make some progress in this economy.

Q    Robert, the President is going to spotlight the jobs -- the new hiring among some of these plants, but the fact of the matter is, is that tens of thousands of jobs that were lost over years during the downturn to the auto industry will never come back, so what’s the President’s message to those people who will never be able to be back on the assembly line?

MR. GIBBS:  Well, I think it’s important to understand the history.  The decision the President made -- and Brian was in those meetings; I was in a lot of those meetings -- was a decision to save a million jobs.  And you hear a lot of people talk about the decisions they would have made.  They would have walked away from a million people.  They would away from the communities.  They would have walked away from the livelihoods that many enjoyed.

So first and foremost, we’re glad that those million jobs have been saved.  It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right one.  Now, the auto industry is adding jobs.  I do think that the auto industry can continue to create jobs because clearly they're making products that have and enjoy increasing consumer demand.  And understand this, we are seeing profitability and job creation in an economy of about 11 or 11.5 million in annual sales, down from probably a high of about 17 or 17.4 million. 

So the auto industry has done well in a fragile economy.  As the recovery continues, we expect that consumer demand will increase and we can bring back some of those jobs.

Q    Can you confirm what’s going on at OMB?

MR. DEESE:  The only thing I would add to that is that -- and some of this will be on display during the President’s trip today, which is in addition to the steps that the administration took with respect to GM and Chrysler, the administration has also taken a set of -- made a set of investments and made a set of decisions to try to help build a long term, new industry in the United States that’s not just about building the cars of the future, but making sure that the technologies of the future are designed here and made here. 

And so you saw the President visit a battery manufacturer.  We’re expecting that there were two battery plants in the United States before the President took office, we’re now projected to have 30 of those in the United States.  So that’s -- that means jobs, but it also means the foundation of a new industry that’s more innovative and where we’re building things here in the United States that people just a couple of years ago never expected we would be. 

Q    Can you confirm what’s going on at OMB, that Jeffrey Zients is going to be taking over as acting director and Rob Nabors is going to be coming over before Lew is -- you can confirm both those things?

MR. GIBBS:  Obviously, the President signaled and picked Jack Lew to succeed Peter Orszag, who leaves today.  And the President appreciates Peter’s service.  Obviously, Peter was involved in helping to craft the Recovery Act, was a key player in particularly the cost-cutting measures in health care, all valuable and important contributions to this administration, work that we’re all proud of.

I think we’ve got a good team in place -- an acting team, Rob coming back after spending some time in the Chief of Staff’s Office -- as we send Jack Lew’s nomination up, and hopefully the Senate will act on it quicker than they normally do.

Q    What’s the timeline for the head of the Consumer Protection Agency?  Any update on that?

MR. GIBBS:  Nothing.  No updates and no imminent announcements.  I would add one thing on health care.  Today, the Medicare agency is releasing some new ads featuring Andy Griffith that highlight some of the impacts of the Affordable Care Act on Medicare, including reduced prescription drug prices, increases in fighting fraud against seniors, and free checkups, which are all important aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Q    There’s a piece today in the New York Times opinion section called “GM’s Electric Lemon.”  I’m wondering whether the President has read that this morning and whether he is concerned about it?

MR. GIBBS:  I don’t know that the President -- Deese had a good point that I’ll have him make now.  They don’t do a lot of fact checking, I would say, on some of these things.

MR. DEESE:  I would just say two things.  The first is the President has been clear, and I think we were clear about this, as well, that the decisions that this company, its independent board and its management are making are their decisions.  And so I think some of the suggestions in those pieces that somehow we were involved in or even made aware of decisions around that vehicle or any of the other day-to-day business decisions are just wrong.

But I would also point out there was a sort of interesting theory in that piece that somehow the management or the administration, but even the management would want to push up the price of this vehicle to help sort of boost its revenues in advance of an IPO.  But the company has been clear.  The company is not even going to take purchases of this vehicle until after the period in which they have indicated that they’re interested in doing the IPO.

So there was some sort of logical inconsistencies in the piece that I think we looked at.  But I think more generally, this is an independent company and they’re making decisions about how to market their products.  And we have been -- we have taken a very explicit hands-off posture over the last year since they exited bankruptcy precisely because we don’t want to be involved in this.

MR. GIBBS:  Did you guys ever see “Animal House?”  Right?  Remember when they go, “Neidermeyer dead?”  I’d say his argument is largely there.

Q    What is your estimate of --

Q    Neidermeyer, dead man. 

MR. GIBBS:  Let the transcript reflect that Mr. Babington was trying to convince people that he had not seen “Animal House,” but then goes through the line rather convincingly.

Q    What is your estimate about how much the government will be able to recoup from the initial Bush administration investment?  Do you have one?

MR. GIBBS:  Look, obviously our hope is -- we think we’re going to get back the $60 billion that the Obama administration invested.  Obviously, our strong hope is to get all of that money back to ensure that the taxpayers aren’t on the hook.  And that’s why the President has put forward a crisis responsibility fee, a financial crisis responsibility fee that ensures that taxpayers are made whole.

Q    So are you saying that that initial investment is lost, the Bush administration investment is lost?

MR. GIBBS:  Look, I don’t know how much of that the companies themselves, you get back from the companies.  I think it’s important to understand that those were -- that was money that was given without the requirement to do anything.  That was one of the criticisms of that -- of those actions then, and that’s why the President demanded that the companies that -- those that work there, that everyone involved make sacrifices.  And we put both of these companies on a sure footing, business-wise.  They clearly have taken some of those actions and have changed their economic outlook.

Q    Would you say anything edgier about Charlie Rangel than you were willing to yesterday before we go?

MR. GIBBS:  No, I don’t think there’s anything to add.  I like that, though, edgier.  (Laughter.)

MR. DEESE:  The only other point on that I would say is, look, nobody can predict the future.  But if you look at the trend in the projections of the return to taxpayers from this investment, it has been consistently improving.  And so at the current moment, the Treasury Department projection is for about $60 billion to return.  But if you look at the trend, I think it has been consistently positive.

MR. GIBBS:  Thanks, guys.

END
11:03 A.M. EDT