President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 27, 2010 (Video/)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
March 27, 2009

This was a momentous week for America.  It was a week in which together, we took bold new steps toward restoring economic security for our middle class and rebuilding a stronger foundation for our future.  It was a week in which some of the change that generations have hoped for and worked for finally became reality in America.
It began with the passage of comprehensive health insurance reform that will begin to end the worst practices of the insurance industry, rein in our exploding deficits, and, over time, finally offer millions of families and small businesses quality, affordable care – and the security and peace of mind that comes with it.
And it ended with Congress casting a final vote on another piece of legislation that accomplished what we’ve been talking about for decades – legislation that will reform our student loan system and help us educate all Americans to compete and win in the 21st century.
Year after year, we’ve seen billions of taxpayer dollars handed out as subsidies to the bankers and middlemen who handle federal student loans, when that money should have gone to advancing the dreams of our students and working families.  And yet attempts to fix this problem and reform this program were thwarted by special interests that fought tooth and nail to preserve their exclusive giveaway.
But this time, we said, would be different.  We said we’d stand up to the special interests, and stand up for the interests of students and families.   That’s what happened this week.  And I commend all the Senators and Representatives who did the right thing.
This reform of the federal student loan programs will save taxpayers $68 billion over the next decade.  And with this legislation, we’re putting that money to use achieving a goal I set for America: by the end of this decade, we will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
To make college more affordable for millions of middle-class Americans for whom the cost of higher education has become an unbearable burden, we’re expanding federal Pell Grants for students: increasing them to keep pace with inflation in the coming years and putting the program on a stronger financial footing.  In total, we’re doubling funding for the federal Pell Grant program to help the students who depend on it.
To make sure our students don’t go broke just because they chose to go to college, we’re making it easier for graduates to afford their student loan payments.  Today, about 2 in 3 graduates take out loans to pay for college.  The average student ends up with more than $23,000 in debt.  So when this change takes effect in 2014, we’ll cap a graduate’s annual student loan repayments at 10 percent of his or her income.
To help an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates over the next decade, we’re revitalizing programming at our community colleges – the career pathways for millions of dislocated workers and working families across this country.  These schools are centers of learning; where students young and old can get the skills and technical training they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow.  They’re centers of opportunity; where we can forge partnerships between students and businesses so that every community can gain the workforce it needs.  And they are vital to our economic future.
And to ensure that all our students have every chance to live up to their full potential, this legislation also increases support for our Minority Serving Institutions, including our Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to keep them as strong as ever in this new century.
Education.  Health care.  Two of the most important pillars of a strong America grew stronger this week.  These achievements don’t represent the end of our challenges; nor do they signify the end of the work that faces our country.  But what they do represent is real and major reform.  What they show is that we’re a nation still capable of doing big things.  What they prove is what’s possible when we can come together to overcome the politics of the moment; push back on the special interests; and look beyond the next election to do what’s right for the next generation.
That’s the spirit in which we continue the work of tackling our greatest common tasks – an economy rebuilt; job creation revitalized; an American Dream renewed – for all our people.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 20, 2010 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
March 20, 2010

On Monday, the Banking Committee of the United States Senate will debate a proposal to address the abuse and excess that led to the worst financial crisis in generations.  These reforms are essential.  As I’ve urged over the past year, we need common-sense rules that will our allow markets to function fairly and freely while reining in the worst practices of the financial industry.  That’s the central lesson of this crisis.  And we fail to heed that lesson at our peril.
Of course, there were many causes of the economic turmoil that ripped through our country over the past two years.  But it was a crisis that began in our financial system.  Large banks engaged in reckless financial speculation without regard for the consequences – and without tough oversight.  Financial firms invented and sold complicated financial products to escape scrutiny and conceal enormous risks.  And there were some who engaged in the rampant exploitation of consumers to turn a quick profit no matter who was hurt in the process.
Now, I have long been a vigorous defender of free markets.  And I believe we need a strong and vibrant financial sector so that businesses can get loans; families can afford mortgages; entrepreneurs can find the capital to start a new company, sell a new product, offer a new service.  But what we have seen over the past two years is that without reasonable and clear rules to check abuse and protect families, markets don’t function freely.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  In the absence of such rules, our financial markets spun out of control, credit markets froze, and our economy nearly plummeted into a second Great Depression.
That’s why financial reform is so necessary.  And after months of bipartisan work, Senator Chris Dodd and his committee have offered a strong foundation for reform, in line with the proposal I previously laid out, and in line with the reform bill passed by the House.
It would provide greater scrutiny of large financial firms to prevent any one company from threatening the entire financial system – and it would update the rules so that complicated financial products like derivatives are no longer bought and sold without oversight.  It would prevent banks from engaging in risky dealings through their own hedge funds – while finally giving shareholders a say on executive salaries and bonuses.  And through new tools to break up failing financial firms, it would help ensure that taxpayers are never again forced to bail out a big bank because it is “too big to fail.”
Finally, these reforms include a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to prevent predatory loan practices and other abuses to ensure that consumers get clear information about loans and other financial products before they sign on the dotted line.  Because this financial crisis wasn’t just the result of decisions made by large financial firms; it was also the result of decisions made by ordinary Americans to open credit cards and take on mortgages.  And while there were many who took out loans they knew they couldn’t afford, there were also millions of people who signed contracts they didn’t fully understand offered by lenders who didn’t always tell the truth.
This is in part because the job of protecting consumers is spread across seven different federal agencies, none of which has the interests of ordinary Americans as its principal concern.  This diffusion of responsibility has made it easier for credit card companies to lure customers with attractive offers then punish them in the fine print; for payday lenders and others who charge outrageous interest to operate without much oversight; and for mortgage brokers to entice homebuyers with low initial rates only to trap them with ballooning payments down the line.
For these banking reforms to be complete – for these reforms to meet the measure of the crisis we’ve just been through – we need a consumer agency to advocate for ordinary Americans and help enforce the rules that protect them.  That’s why I won’t accept any attempts to undermine the independence of this agency.  And I won’t accept efforts to create loopholes for the most egregious abusers of consumers, from payday lenders to auto finance companies to credit card companies.
Unsurprisingly, this proposal has been a source of contention with financial firms who like things just the way they are.  In fact, the Republican leader in the House reportedly met with a top executive of one of America’s largest banks and made thwarting reform a key part of his party’s pitch for campaign contributions.  And this week, the allies of banks and consumer finance companies launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign to fight against the proposal.  You might call this ‘air support’ for the army of lobbyists already arm twisting members of the committee to reject these reforms and block this consumer agency.  Perhaps that’s why, after months of working with Democrats, Republicans walked away from this proposal.  I regret that and urge them to reconsider.
The fact is, it’s now been well over a year since the near collapse of the entire financial system – a crisis that helped wipe out more than 8 million jobs and that continues to exact a terrible toll throughout our economy.  Yet today the very same system that allowed this turmoil remains in place.  No one disputes that.  No one denies that reform is needed.  So the question we have to answer is very simple: will we learn from this crisis, or will we condemn ourselves to repeat it?  That’s what’s at stake.
I urge those in the Senate who support these reforms to remain strong, to resist the pressure from those who would preserve the status quo, to stand up for their constituents and our country.   And I promise to use every tool at my disposal to see these reforms enacted: to ensure that the bill I sign into law reflects not the special interests of Wall Street, but the best interests of the American people.
Thank you.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 13, 2010 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Weekly Address
March 13, 2010

Lost in the news of the week was a headline that ought to be a source of concern for every American.  It said, “Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education.”   Now, debates in Washington tend to be consumed with the politics of the moment: who’s up in the daily polls; whose party stands to gain in November.  But what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation.  And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children.
Our prosperity in the 20th century was fueled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than at any time in our history.  We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science.  We helped a generation of veterans go to college through the GI Bill.  We led the globe in producing college graduates, and in turn we led in producing ground-breaking technologies and scientific discoveries that lifted living standards and set us apart as the world’s engine of innovation.
Of course, other nations recognize this, and are looking to gain an edge in the global marketplace by investing in better schools, supporting teachers, and committing to clear standards that will produce graduates with more skills.  Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow.  Yet, too often we have failed to make inroads in reforming and strengthening our public education system – the debate mired in worn arguments hurled across entrenched divides.
As a result, over the last few decades, we’ve lost ground.  One assessment shows American fifteen year olds no longer even near the top in math and science when compared to their peers around the world.  As referenced in the news report I mentioned, we’ve now fallen behind most wealthy countries in our high school graduation rates.  And while we once led the world in the proportion of college graduates we produced, today we no longer do.
Not only does that risk our leadership as a nation, it consigns millions of Americans to a lesser future.  For we know that the level of education a person attains is increasingly a prerequisite for success and a predictor of the income that person will earn throughout his or her life.  Beyond the economic statistics is a less tangible but no less painful reality: unless we take action – unless we step up – there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential.
I don’t accept that future for them.  And I don’t accept that future for the United States of America.  That’s why we’re engaged in a historic effort to redeem and improve  our public  schools: to raise the expectations for our students and for ourselves, to recognize and reward excellence, to improve performance in troubled schools, and to give our kids and our country the best chance to succeed in a changing world.
Under the leadership of an outstanding Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, we launched a Race to the Top, through which states compete for funding by committing to reform and raising standards, by rewarding good teaching, by supporting the development of better assessments to measure results, and by emphasizing math and science to help prepare children for college and careers.
And on Monday, my administration will send to Congress our blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind.  What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts.  So, yes, we set a high bar – but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it.
Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down.  For the majority of schools that fall in between – schools that do well but could do better – we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future: prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. And because the most important factor in a child’s success is the person standing at the front of the classroom, we will better prepare teachers, support teachers, and encourage teachers to stay in the field.  In short, we’ll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are.
Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career – no matter who you are or where you come from.  Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time.  And it will require the skills, talents, and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students.  But this effort is essential for our children and for our country.  And while there will always be those cynics who claim it can’t be done, at our best, we know that America has always risen to the challenges that we’ve faced.  This challenge is no different.
As a nation, we are engaged in many important endeavors: improving the economy, reforming the health care system, encouraging innovation in energy and other growth industries of the 21st century.  But our success in these efforts – and our success in the future as a people – will ultimately depend on what happens long before an entrepreneur opens his doors, or a nurse walks the rounds, or a scientist steps into her laboratory.  Our future is determined each and every day, when our children enter the classroom, ready to learn and brimming with promise.
It’s that promise we must help them fulfill.  Thank you.

President Barack Obama Weekly Address March 6, 2010 (Video/Transcript)

Remarks of President Barack Obama

As Prepared for Delivery

Weekly Address

March 6, 2010

This week, I asked Congress to schedule a final vote on reform that will give families and businesses more control over their health care by holding insurance companies more accountable. This comes after nearly a year of debate, as well as a seven hour summit with Democrats and Republicans where we had a public and substantive discussion on health care. Since then, I’ve said that I’m willing to incorporate some ideas offered by Republicans, and we’re eliminating special provisions that had no place in health care reform.

Now, despite all the progress and improvements we’ve made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on health care is to start over. But you know what? The insurance companies aren’t starting over. I just met with some of them on Thursday and they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums – by as much as 60% in states like Illinois. If we do not act, they will continue to do this. They will continue to drop people’s coverage when they need it. They will continue to refuse coverage based on pre-existing conditions. These practices will continue.

That’s why we must act now. That’s why the United States Congress owes the American people an up-or-down vote on health insurance reform.

The proposal we’ve put forward would end the worst practices of the insurance industry, lower costs for millions of Americans, and give uninsured individuals and small businesses the same kind of choice of private health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. And while it will take a few years to fully implement these reforms, there are numerous protections and benefits that would start to take effect this year.

This year, small business owners will receive tax credits to purchase health insurance.

This year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will finally be able to purchase coverage. Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. And they will no longer be allowed to drop your coverage when you get sick.

This year, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers – so that we can start catching preventable illnesses and diseases on the front end. There will no longer be lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care you receive. Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance policy until they’re 26 years old. And there will be a new, independent appeals process for anyone who feels they were unfairly denied a claim by their insurance company.

Finally, seniors who fall into the gap in coverage known as the donut hole will receive $250 to help them pay for their prescriptions.

What won’t change when this bill is signed this: if you like the insurance plan you have now, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Because nothing should get in the way of the relationship between a family and their doctor.

If we act now, all of this will happen this year. Millions of lives will improve. Some will be saved. Many families and small business owners will have health insurance for the very first time in their lives. Doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions, and insurance company bureaucrats will have less. This future is within our grasp.

But we also know what the future will look like if we don’t act – if we let this opportunity pass for another year, or another decade, or another generation. More Americans will lose their family’s health insurance if they switch jobs or lose their job. More small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring. More insurance companies will raise premiums and deny coverage. And the rising cost of Medicare and Medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt.

I don’t accept that future for the United States of America. I know it has been a long and hard road to this point. And we are not finished with our journey just yet. But we are close. We are very close. And so I ask Congress to finish its work. I ask them to give the American people an up or down vote. And let’s show our citizens that it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. Thanks for listening.