4:16 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Hello,
everybody. Good afternoon. I know
everybody is itching to get out of here and spend some time with their
families. I am, too. I noticed some of you colleagues have
been
reporting from Hawaii over the last week. But I just wanted to
say a
few words about the progress that we’ve made on some important issues
over these last few weeks.
A lot of folks in this town predicted that
after the midterm
elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more
gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress for the
American people. That progress is reflecting -- is a reflection
of the
message that voters sent in November -- a message that said it’s time
to find common ground on challenges facing our country. That’s a
message that I will take to heart in the New Year, and I hope my
Democratic and Republican friends will do the same.
First of all, I am glad that Democrats and
Republicans came
together to approve my top national security priority for this session
of Congress -- the New START treaty. This is the most significant
arms
control agreement in nearly two decades, and it will make us safer and
reduce our nuclear arsenals along with Russia. With this treaty,
our
inspectors will also be back on the ground at Russian nuclear
bases.
So we will be able to trust but verify.
We’ll continue to advance our relationship
with Russia, which is
essential to making progress on a host of challenges -- from enforcing
strong sanctions on Iran to preventing nuclear weapons from falling
into the hands of terrorists. And this treaty will enhance our
leadership to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the peace of
a world without them.
The strong, bipartisan vote in the Senate
sends a powerful signal
to the world that Republicans and Democrats stand together on behalf of
our security. And I especially want to thank the outstanding work
done
by Vice President Joe Biden; the Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, Senator John Kerry; and the Ranking Republican, Senator
Richard Lugar, for their extraordinary efforts.
In fact, I just got off the phone with Dick Lugar, and reminded him the
first trip I ever took as senator -- foreign trip -- was with Dick
Lugar to Russia, to look at nuclear facilities there. And I told
him
how much I appreciated the work he had done and that there was a direct
line between that trip that we took together when I was a first-year
senator and the results of the vote today on the floor.
This all speaks to a tradition of bipartisan support for strong
American leadership around the world -- and that's a tradition that was
reinforced by the fact that the New START treaty won the backing of our
military and our allies abroad.
In the last few weeks, we also came together
across party lines to
pass a package of tax cuts and unemployment insurance that will spur
jobs, businesses and growth. This package includes a
payroll tax cut
that means nearly every American family will get an average tax cut
next year of about a thousand dollars delivered in their
paychecks. It
will make a difference for millions of students and parents and workers
and people still looking for work. It’s led economists across the
political spectrum to predict that the economy will grow faster than
they originally thought next year.
In our ongoing struggle to perfect our union,
we also overturned a
17-year-old law and a longstanding injustice by finally ending “don’t
ask, don’t tell.” As I said earlier today, this is the right
thing to
do for our security; it’s the right thing to do, period.
In addition, we came together across party
lines to pass a food
safety bill -- the biggest upgrade of America’s food safety laws since
the Great Depression. And I hope the House will soon join the
Senate
in passing a 9/11 health bill that will help cover the health care
costs of police officers, firefighters, rescue workers, and residents
who inhaled toxic air near the World Trade Center on that terrible
morning and the days that followed.
So I think it’s fair to say that this has been
the most productive
post-election period we’ve had in decades, and it comes on the heels of
the most productive two years that we’ve had in generations.
That doesn’t mean that our business is
finished. I am very
disappointed Congress wasn’t able to pass the DREAM Act so we can stop
punishing kids for the actions of their parents, and allow them to
serve in the military or earn an education and contribute their talents
to the country where they grew up.
I’m also disappointed we weren’t able to come together around a budget
to fund our government over the long term. I expect we’ll have a
robust debate about this when we return from the holidays -- a debate
that will have to answer an increasingly urgent question -- and that is
how do we cut spending that we don’t need while making investments that
we do need -- investments in education, research and development,
innovation, and the things that are essential to grow our economy over
the long run, create jobs, and compete with every other nation in the
world. I look forward to hearing from folks on both sides of the
aisle
about how we can accomplish that goal.
If there’s any lesson to draw from these past
few weeks, it’s that
we are not doomed to endless gridlock. We’ve shown, in the wake
of the
November elections, that we have the capacity not only to make
progress, but to make progress together.
And I’m not naïve. I know there
will be tough fights in the
months ahead. But my hope heading into the New Year is that we
can
continue to heed the message of the American people and hold to a
spirit of common purpose in 2011 and beyond. And if we do that,
I’m
convinced that we will lift up our middle class, we will rebuild our
economy, and we will make our contribution to America’s greatness.
Finally, before I take questions, I want to
send a message to all
those Americans who are spending Christmas serving our nation in harm’s
way. As I said in Afghanistan earlier this month, the American
people
stand united in our support and admiration for you. And in this
holiday season, I’d ask the American people to keep our troops in your
prayers, and lend a hand to those military families who have an empty
seat at the table.
So with that, I’m going to take some
questions. And I’m going to start with Caren Bohan.
Q Thank you, Mr.
President. You racked up a lot of wins in the
last few weeks that a lot of people thought would be difficult to come
by. Are you ready to call yourself the “Comeback Kid”? And
also, as
you look ahead to 2011, are you worried that bipartisan agreement will
be a lot harder to reach on issues like deficit reduction and maybe
even tax reform?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, look, as I said
right after the midterm
elections, we took a shellacking. And I take responsibility for
that.
But I think what’s happened over the last several weeks is not a
victory for me, it’s a victory for the American people. And the lesson
I hope that everybody takes from this is that it’s possible for
Democrats and Republicans to have principled disagreements; to have
some lengthy arguments but to ultimately find common ground to move the
country forward.
That’s what we did with taxes. Those
arguments have not gone
away. I still believe that it doesn’t make sense for us to
provide tax
cuts to people like myself who don’t need them when our deficit and
debts are growing. That’s a debate that’s going to continue into
2011,
and I know the Republicans feel just as strongly on the other side of
that.
I think that we’re still going to have
disagreements in terms of
spending priorities. It’s vital for us to make investments in
education and research and development -- all those things that create
an innovative economy -- while at the same time cutting those programs
that just aren’t working. And there are going to be debates
between
the parties on those issues.
But what we’ve shown is that we don’t have to
agree on a hundred
percent to get things done that enhance the lives of families all
across America. And if we can sustain that spirit, then
regardless of
how the politics play out in 2012, the American people will be better
for it. And that’s my ultimate goal.
Jake Tapper.
Q Thanks, Mr.
President. Merry Christmas.
THE PRESIDENT: Merry Christmas.
Q I have a couple questions
about “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
First of all, congratulations. What was your conversation like
with
Marine Commandant Amos when he expressed to you his concerns and yet he
said that he would abide by whatever -- whatever the ruling was?
Can
you understand why he had the position he did? And then on the
other
hand, is it intellectually consistent to say that gay and lesbians
should be able to fight and die for this country but they should not be
able to marry the people they love?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I don’t want to
go into detail about
conversations in the Oval Office with my service chiefs. Jim Amos
expressed the same concerns to me privately that he expressed publicly
during his testimony. He said that there could be disruptions as
a
consequence of this. And what I said to him was that I was
confident,
looking at the history of the military with respect to racial
integration, with respect to the inclusion of women in our armed
forces, that that could be managed. And that was confirmed by the
attitudinal studies that was done prior to this vote.
And what he assured me of -- and what all the
service chiefs have
assured me of -- is that regardless of their concerns about
disruptions, they were confident that they could implement this policy
without it affecting our military cohesion and good discipline and
readiness. And I take them at their word. And I’ve spoken
to them
since the vote took place and they have all said that we are going to
implement this smartly and swiftly, and they are confident that it will
not have an effect on our military effectiveness.
So I’m very heartened by that. And I
want to, again, give Bob
Gates and Admiral Mullen enormous credit for having guided this process
through in a way that preserves our primary responsibility to keep
America safe and at the same time allows us to live up to our values.
With respect to the issue of whether gays and
lesbians should be
able to get married, I’ve spoken about this recently. As I’ve
said, my
feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with
this. I
have friends, I have people who work for me, who are in powerful,
strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions. And they are
extraordinary
people, and this is something that means a lot to them and they care
deeply about.
At this point, what I’ve said is, is that my
baseline is a strong
civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights
that married couples have. And I think -- and I think that’s the
right
thing to do. But I recognize that from their perspective it is
not
enough, and I think is something that we’re going to continue to debate
and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward.
Q But the military does not
recognize civil unions, right?
THE PRESIDENT: I understand. And
as I said, this is going to be
an issue that is not unique to the military -- this is an issue that
extends to all of our society, and I think we’re all going to have to
have a conversation about it.
Dan Lothian.
Q Thank you, Mr. President,
and happy holidays.
THE PRESIDENT: Happy holidays.
Q Can you give us an update
on that car that you talk about so
much about being in the ditch? Can you give us an update as to
where
it is today? What kind of highway do you think it will be driving
on
in 2011? Who will really be behind the wheel, given the new
makeup in
Congress? And what do you think Republicans will be sipping and
saying
next year? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Dan, you gave some
thought to that question, didn’t you?
Q I did. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I do think that the
car is on level ground.
I mean, the car is the economy. And I think we are past the
crisis
point in the economy, but we now have to pivot and focus on jobs and
growth. And my singular focus over the next two years is not
rescuing
the economy from potential disaster, but rather jumpstarting the
economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment
rate and we are equipping ourselves so that we can compete in the 21st
century.
And that means we’ve got to focus on
education, that means we have
to focus on research and development, we have to focus on
innovation.
We have to make sure that in every sector, from manufacturing to clean
energy to high-tech to biotech, that we recognize the private sector is
going to be the driving force. And what the government can do is
to
make sure that we are a good partner with them, that we’re a
facilitator; that in some cases, we’re a catalyst, when it’s a
fledgling industry.
And that means that we’ve got to look at some
of our old dogmas --
both Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals -- to think
about what works. If there are regulations that are in place that
are
impeding innovation, let’s get rid of those regulations. Let’s
make
sure that we’re also protecting consumers, and we’re protecting the
environment and protecting workers in the process. But let’s find
ways
to do business that helps business.
People were doubtful about the approach that
we took to the auto
industry, but that was an example of there may be occasions --
certainly during crisis -- where a timely intervention that’s limited
and restricted can end up making a difference.
And so I think Democrats, Republicans, House,
Senate, the White
House -- all of us have to be in a conversation with the private sector
about what’s going to ensure that we can export and sell our products
instead of just buying exports from someplace else. How do we
make
sure that the green technologies of the future are made here in
America?
And how do we get all these profits that
companies have been
making since the economy recovered into productive investment and
hiring? That's a conversation that I had with the 20 CEOs who
came
here, and that's a conversation I expect to continue in the months
ahead.
But the answer about who drives -- the
American people are driving
the car. They're the ones who are going to be making an
assessment as
to whether we’re putting in place policies that are working for
them.
And both parties are going to be held accountable and I’m going to be
held accountable if we take a wrong turn on that front.
Q And what will the
Republicans be sipping? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You know, my sense is the
Republicans recognize
that with greater power is going to come greater responsibility.
And
some of the progress that I think we saw in the lame duck was a
recognition on their part that people are going to be paying attention
to what they're doing, as well as what I’m doing and what the Democrats
in Congress are doing.
Mark Knoller.
Q Yes, sir. Mr.
President, can you explain the anger and even
outrage many Democrats felt when the tax cut bill extended tax cuts not
just for the middle class but also for the wealthy? And is that a
divide that you may be contributing to when you and the Vice President
talk about “morally inappropriate” tax cuts for the wealthy?
THE PRESIDENT: Look, the frustration
that people felt about that
was frustration I share. I’ve said that before, and I’ll probably
say
it again. I don't think that over the long run we can afford a
series
of tax breaks for people who are doing very well and don't need it;
were doing well when Bill Clinton was in office. They were still
rich
then, and they will still be rich if those tax cuts went away.
And so this is going to be a debate that we’re
going to be having
over the next couple of years because I guarantee you, as soon as the
new Congress is sworn in, we’re going to have to have a conversation
about how do we start balancing our budget, or at least getting to a
point that's sustainable when it comes to our deficit and our debt.
And that's going to require us cutting
programs that don't work,
but it also requires us to be honest about paying for the things that
we think are important. If we think it’s important to make sure
that
our veterans are getting care that they need when they come back home
from fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq, we can’t just salute and wish
them well and have a Veterans Day Parade. We got to make sure
that
there are doctors and nurses and facilities for post-traumatic stress
disorder -- and that costs money.
If we say that education is going to be the
single most important
determinant for our children’s success and this country’s success in
the 21st century, we can’t have schools that are laying off so many
teachers that they start going to four days a week, as they’ve done in
Hawaii, for example.
We’ve got to make sure that young people can
afford to go to
college. If we want to keep our competitive edge in innovation,
well,
we’ve got to invest in basic research -- the same basic research that
resulted in the Internet, the same basic research that invited -- that
resulted in GPS. All those things originated in research funded
by the
government.
So we are going to have to compare the option
of maintaining the
tax cuts for the wealthy permanently versus spending on these things
that we think are important. And that's a debate that I
welcome. But
I completely understand why not just Democrats but some Republicans
might think that that part of the tax package we could have done
without.
Having said that, I want to repeat --
compromise, by definition,
means taking some things you don't like. And the overall package
was
the right one to ensure that this economy has the best possible chance
to grow and create jobs. And there is no better anti-poverty
program
than an economy that's growing. There is no better
deficit-reduction
program than an economy that is growing. And if the economy
started
contracting, as it might have had we not gotten this tax agreement,
then the choices that we would have to make would be even tougher.
Q Sir, is there a divide
between middle-class and wealthy Americans?
THE PRESIDENT: I think middle-class
folks would confirm what the
statistics say, which is that they have not seen a real increase in
their incomes in a decade, while their costs have skyrocketed.
That's
just a fact.
What is also a fact is that people in the top
1 percent, people in
the top 1/10th of 1 percent, or 1/100th of 1 percent have a larger
share of income and wealth than any time since the 1920s. Those
are
just facts. That's not a feeling on the part of Democrats.
Those are
facts.
And something that's always been the greatest
strength of America
is a thriving, booming middle class, where everybody has got a shot at
the American Dream. And that should be our goal. That
should be what
we’re focused on. How are we creating opportunity for
everybody? So
that we celebrate wealth. We celebrate somebody like a Steve
Jobs, who
has created two or three different revolutionary products. We
expect
that person to be rich, and that's a good thing. We want that
incentive. That's part of the free market.
But we also want to make sure that those of us
who have been
extraordinarily fortunate, that we’re contributing to the larger
American community so that a whole bunch of other kids coming up are
doing well. And that means schools that work and infrastructure
like
roads and airports that function, and it means colleges and
universities that teach and aren’t restricted to just people who can
afford it but are open to anybody with talent and a willingness to
work. And that’s going to be I think part of the conversation
that
we’ve got to have over the next couple years.
Juan Carlos López.
Q Gracias, Presidente.
Feliz Navidad.
THE PRESIDENT: Feliz Navidad.
Q Mr. President, you’ve been
able to fulfill many of your
promises. Immigration reform isn’t one of them. Just this
last
weekend, the DREAM Act failed cloture by five votes, and five Democrats
didn’t support it; three Republicans did. How are you going to be
able
to keep your promise when the Republicans control the House when you
haven’t been able to do so with Democrats controlling both the Senate
and the House, and when Republicans say they want to focus on border
security before they do anything on immigration?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me say, there
are a number of things
that I wanted to get accomplished that we did not get
accomplished.
For example, collective bargaining for firefighters and public safety
workers -- that was something that I thought was important. We
didn’t
get it done. I’m disappointed in that. I think we’re still
going to
have to figure out how we work on energy, and that’s an area that I
want to immediately engage with Republicans to figure out.
But I will tell you, maybe my biggest
disappointment was this
DREAM Act vote. You know, I get letters from kids all across the
country -- came here when they were five, came here when they were
eight; their parents were undocumented. The kids didn’t know --
kids
are going to school like any other American kid, they’re growing up,
they’re playing football, they’re going to class, they’re dreaming
about college. And suddenly they come to 18, 19 years old and
they
realize even though I feel American, I am an American, the law doesn’t
recognize me as an American. I’m willing to serve my country, I’m
willing to fight for this country, I want to go to college and better
myself -- and I’m at risk of deportation.
And it is heartbreaking. That can’t be
who we are, to have kids
-- our kids, classmates of our children -- who are suddenly under this
shadow of fear through no fault of their own. They didn’t break a
law
-- they were kids.
So my hope and expectation is that, first of
all, everybody
understands I am determined and this administration is determined to
get immigration reform done. It is the right thing to do. I
think it
involves securing our borders, and my administration has done more on
border security than any administration in recent years. We have
more
of everything -- ICE, Border Patrol, surveillance, you name it.
So we take border security seriously.
And we take going after
employers who are exploiting and using undocumented workers, we take
that seriously. But we need to reform this immigration system so
we
are a nation of laws and we are a nation of immigrants. And at
minimum, we should be able to get the DREAM Act done.
And so I’m going to go back at it and I’m
going to engage in
Republicans who, I think, some of them, in their heart of hearts, know
it’s the right thing to do, but they think the politics is tough for
them.
Well, that may mean that we’ve got to change
the politics. And
I’ve got to spend some time talking to the American people, and others
have to spend time talking to the American people, because I think that
if the American people knew any of these kids -- they probably do, they
just may not know their status -- they’d say, of course we want
you.
That's who we are. That's the better angels of our nature.
And so one thing I hope people have seen during this lame duck -- I am
persistent. I am persistent. If I believe in something
strongly, I
stay on it. And I believe strongly in this.
And I am happy to engage with the Republicans about -- if they’ve got
ideas about more on border security, I’m happy to have that
conversation. And I think that it is absolutely appropriate for
the
American people to expect that we don't have porous borders and anybody
can come in here any time. That is entirely legitimate.
But I also think about those kids. And I want to do right by
them, and
I think the country is going to want to do right by them, as well.
Mike Emanuel.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Merry Christmas.
THE PRESIDENT: Merry Christmas.
Q Guantanamo, sir. I understand a draft of an
executive order is
being prepared for you, and I don't expect you to comment then on that
--
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
Q It hasn’t gotten to you yet.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q But it makes me wonder where you are, sir, at about
the two-year
mark on Guantanamo, when closing it was one of your initial priorities,
sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Obviously, we haven’t gotten it closed. And
let me
just step back and explain that the reason for wanting to close
Guantanamo was because my number one priority is keeping the American
people safe. One of the most powerful tools we have to keep the
American people safe is not providing al Qaeda and jihadists recruiting
tools for fledgling terrorists.
And Guantanamo is probably the number one recruitment tool that is used
by these jihadist organizations. And we see it in the websites
that
they put up. We see it in the messages that they're delivering.
And so my belief is that we can keep the American people safe, go after
those who would engage in terrorism. And my administration has
been as
aggressive in going after al Qaeda as any administration out
there.
And we’ve seen progress, as I noted during the Afghan review.
Every intelligence report that we’re seeing shows that al Qaeda is more
hunkered down than they have been since the original invasion of
Afghanistan in 2001, that they have reduced financing capacity, reduced
operational capacity. It is much more difficult for their top
folks to
communicate, and a lot of those top folks can’t communicate because
they're underground now.
But it is important for us, even as we’re going aggressively after the
bad guys, to make sure that we’re also living up to our values and our
ideals and our principles. And that's what closing Guantanamo is
about
-- not because I think that the people who are running Guantanamo are
doing a bad job, but rather because it’s become a symbol. And I
think
we can do just as good of a job housing them somewhere else.
Now, to the issue you had about the review. You’re right, I won’t
comment right now on a review that I have not received yet. I can
tell
you that over the last two years, despite not having closed Guantanamo,
we’ve been trying to put our battle against terrorists within a legal
structure that is consistent with our history of rule of law. And
we’ve succeeded on a number of fronts.
One of the toughest problems is what to do with people that we know are
dangerous, that we know are -- have engaged in terrorist activity, are
proclaimed enemies of the United States, but because of the manner in
which they were originally captured, the circumstances right after 9/11
in which they are interrogated, it becomes difficult to try them
whether in an Article III court or in a military commission.
Releasing them at this stage could potentially create greater danger
for the American people. And so how do we manage that? And
that's
what this team has been looking at. Are there ways for us to make
sure
these folks have lawyers, to make sure that these folks have the
opportunity to challenge their detention -- but at the same time,
making sure that we are not simply releasing folks who could do us
grievous harm and have shown a capacity and willingness to engage in
brutal attacks in the past.
And so when I get that report, I’m sure that I’ll have more comments on
it. The bottom line is, is that striking this balance between our
security and making sure that we are consistent with our values and our
Constitution is not an easy task, but ultimately that's what’s required
for practical reasons.
Because the more people are reminded of what makes America special --
the fact that we stand for something beyond just our economic power or
our military might, but we have these core ideals that we observe even
when it’s hard -- that's one of our most powerful weapons. And I
want
to make sure that we don't lose that weapon in what is a serious
struggle.
So with that, everybody, I want to wish you all a merry
Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. See you in
2011.
END
4:50 P.M. EST
PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT
James S. Brady
Press Briefing Room
December 7, 2010
[WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPT]